
Whanaungatanga Pūkana mai (5 minutes)
Great ruku sessions begin with whanaungatanga. Pūkana mai is a quick activity that will help you measure how your group's feeling while having some fun together. It only takes 5 minutes and works well online or in-person.
Purpose
Pūkana mai is a great icebreaker to help you measure how the group is feeling as you begin your ruku session. It works just as well online through Zoom or Teams, or in a kanohi ki te kanohi ruku session. It's quick, which mean's it's ideal for a team hui before you dive into the mahi.
Demonstrate a pūkana
Bring the positive, uplifting energy and start the session:
- demonstrate a pūkana and then ask the group to practice their own
- show me your pūkana!
- pūkana mai again – make sure everyone is doing the pūkana.
Be sure to use humour. It's engaging to ask a funny question first to help everyone feel a bit more relaxed.
Add your questions
Prepare in advance 6 to 8 questions to get to know your group and have a bit of fun. You can make the questions relevant to the topic of the day – Mātauranga Māori – such as finding out how many of your group have slept on a marae before.
Here's a few ideas:
- Pūkana mai if you're wearing undies!
- Pūkana mai if you've had breakfast, lunch (depending on the time of the session) – we may need a break because people might get hangry!
- Pūkana mai if you need to leave early – this will give you an indication of how many might need to leave early.
- Pūkana mai if you've slept on a marae.
Tips for success
This activity helps you identify how people are feeling, which gives you an opportunity to tailor the session. If you find that a few in your group haven't had kai yet, you might add in an extra break for a cuppa.
It also gives you an opportunity to find out some extra information about your participants.
Two hot tips:
- be sure to have fun too
- be as creative as you like with your questions.
Pūkana mai works especially well if people already know each other. It creates a fun and dynamic environment for hui where you don't have a lot of time for each participant to introduce themselves.