The Learning Barn
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We are an Early Learning Centre in Timaru. Our centre has a rural feel which is centred around the natural environment.
At The Learning Barn we encourage tamariki to interact daily with our animals and plants to understand their importance.
🌟 Matariki School Holidays Week Two 🌟
What a fun week of learning and exploration as we continued our journey through the stars of Matariki! ✨
This week we focused on Tupuānuku, Ururangi, Waitī and Waitā, learning about caring for our gardens, the wind and sky, freshwater and the ocean. 🌱💨💧🌊
Our tamariki enjoyed learning waiata and poi, caring for our gardens, making and flying kites, creating rivers, racing boats and exploring the wonderful world of water!
It has been a fun-filled week of connection, creativity and discovery as we learn more about Matariki and the world around us. 🌟💙
✨ We hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend celebrating Matariki with their whānau! ✨
What a fantastic first week of the school holidays we’ve had celebrating the Matariki stars of Tupuārangi, Pōhutukawa, Waipuna-ā-Rangi, and Tipuānuku! 🌟
Our tamariki have been immersed in meaningful learning experiences inspired by each of these stars. We explored our beautiful native birds and trees, discovering the special connection they have to Aotearoa.
Little hands have been busy weaving, building patience, creativity, and an appreciation for traditional Māori practices.
Through storytelling, we shared the rich traditions and history of Matariki, while Waipuna-ā-Rangi inspired us to learn about the importance of rain and how it nourishes our world.
We also spent time reflecting on our hopes, wishes, and dreams for the future, as well as telling stories about our favourite people and pets, encouraging our tamariki to think about what is important to them and what they hope to achieve.
It has been a magical week of learning, creating, exploring, and celebrating together. We can’t wait to see what the second week of the holidays has in store! 💙✨
✨ Ngā mihi nui! ✨
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our Matariki celebration on Thursday, 25th June. It was so special to come together with our tamariki, whānau, and kaiako to celebrate this meaningful time of reflection, remembrance, and new beginnings.
Seeing our learning community gathered to share kai, laughter, and connection made for a truly memorable evening. Thank you to everyone who came along and helped make the night such a success.
A very special thank you to Arowhenua Marae for preparing and sharing the delicious hāngī with us, and to the Peneamene whānau for their support and assistance in making it all possible. Your generosity and manaakitanga were deeply appreciated.
We hope you enjoy looking back on some of the special moments from the evening. Matariki mā Puanga – here’s to the year ahead and the memories we’ve made together. 🌟💙
18/06/2026
💜 Help Us Warm Little Hearts This Winter 💜
The Learning Barn is proud to be collecting new winter clothing and pyjamas to support local tamariki and whānau through Timaru Family Works this winter.
We are looking for donations of new pyjamas, thermals, hats, gloves, slippers, dressing gowns, and other warm winter essentials—especially for older children aged 10+.
📍 Donations can be dropped off at The Learning Barn front desk
📅 Collection closes Friday 10th July
Every donation, big or small, will help keep a child warm, comfortable, and smiling during the colder months. Thank you for helping us make a difference in our community. 💜❄️
The Annual Learning Barn Bookfair is Back!!! This year we celebrate in our favourite way with all things “Barnyard”. The tamariki have been hard at work creating artwork and families are loving exploring all the wonderful books available
The Annual Learning Barn Bookfair is Back!!! This year we celebrate in our favourite way with all things “Barnyard”. The tamariki have been hard at work creating artwork and families are loving exploring all the wonderful books available
10/06/2026
🌿♻️ Today we had an amazing adventure to the Eco Centre as we continued exploring Environmental Week!
Our tamariki loved learning all about rubbish, recycling, predator traps and what it means to help keep New Zealand predator free. 🐭🪤🇳🇿
A huge thank you to Alice, Corrie and Bronwyn for sharing their knowledge with us and teaching us all about caring for our environment here in Timaru. We even got hands-on helping to build a brand new worm farm — what an exciting experience! 🪱💚
We are so grateful for all that you do to support and protect our environment and for making today such a fun and meaningful learning experience for our tamariki! 🌎
08/06/2026
Environmental Week is off to a fantastic start at The Learning Barn! 🌿🐑⚽️
Today our tamariki embraced the beauty of our very own environment as we explored all the fun our farm has to offer! From searching high and low for bugs and tiny creatures, to sliding, kicking soccer balls, dancing together and even heading off on a bear hunt adventure, there was excitement around every corner 🌱🐻
Our creativity shone through too, with beautiful art experiences including painting pinecones and transforming into stunning butterflies with face painting 🦋🎨 It has been such a joy to see tamariki exploring, creating and connecting with the natural world around them.
We are feeling so excited for the rest of Environmental Week and all the adventures still to come — especially our upcoming trip to the Eco Centre! 🌍💚 Stay tuned to see what we get up to next!
22/05/2026
This week at The Learning Barn, we have been celebrating our wonderful World of Cultures Week! 🌍✨
Throughout the week, our tamariki have immersed themselves in a variety of cultural experiences, exploring music, dance, food, stories, flags, and traditional dress from around the world. We have also embraced the opportunity to explore the world around us right here on our farm, making meaningful connections between our local environment and the wider world.
It has been such an exciting and enriching week of learning as we celebrated the unique cultures within our centre and discovered more about the many cultures that make up our world.
What a special week of curiosity, connection, and celebration! 💛
Time to explore! 🌍🐑
Recently our tamariki have been exploring the world around us on hīkoi (walks).
The Learning Barn tamariki love to explore our rich natural environment and have been capturing photographs of moments that sparked their curiosity.
As they’ve photographed each other, plants, insects, textures and colours, they have been creating a deeper connection with the world around them.
Big discoveries begin with little moments of wonder 🐞🌱
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Category
Telephone
Address
93B Poplar Street
Timaru
7910
Opening Hours
| Monday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |
| Tuesday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |
| Wednesday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |
| Thursday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |
| Friday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |