Find resources / Activities / Making huts – Ngā mahau Activity

Making huts is a great opportunity for tamariki to:

• enjoy creating little enclosed play spaces both indoors and out
• have fun and extend their play
• practise cooperation
• pretend and problem-solve
• practise using prepositions — words like in, out, on, under, over, behind, in front of, through and next to.

• Indoor huts can be made using tables, chairs, couches, cushions, boxes, sheets and blankets.
• Outdoor huts can be made using planks, tree branches, logs, crates, poles, sticks and old curtains.
• Ask tamariki for their ideas about what else they might use.
• Always check any materials for possible dangers, especially when building huts outside.
• Help them to gather materials to use, and be around to help or get more construction materials if needed.
• Old sheets or curtains can make roofs and provide shaded areas.
• Extend the pretend play by ‘inviting’ toys in to eat or sleep.
• A hut could be any type of waka, a ship, a rocket, a tanker or any type of whare, a hospital, a school or a fire station.
• Share books about building huts — for example, Sally’s Secret by Shirley Hughes