A New Way to Explore Nature
Kiwi Ranger is a place-based education programme that brings tamariki and their whānau into rich, hands-on encounters with the wild. Created by the WildLab design team, it transforms how families experience nature—through play, curiosity, and creative exploration grounded in place.
Immersive, Sensory Experiences
You might see kids crouched low, poking through leaf litter with a stick like a kiwi beak. Further up the track, others are barefoot in a glacier-fed stream, shrieking at the cold. There’s the scent of honeydew on fingers, driftwood sculptures taking shape in the sand, and a camp stove sizzling with pancakes after a visit to the Pancake Rocks. When the rain sets in, they’re rigging up a rain gauge or laughing their way through a blindfolded rope walk beneath the canopy. The activities are simple but deeply sensory—inviting kids to slow down, look closer, and connect with the living world around them.
Designed to Connect Families with Place
Each Kiwi Ranger site has its own custom-designed activity booklet, reflecting the ecology, stories, and spirit of that place. WildLab worked alongside DOC rangers, kaumātua, and local volunteers to make the experience meaningful, fun, and easy to roll out. It’s low-cost, high-impact, and built to flex with different environments, audiences, and conditions.
From Grassroots to National Impact
Launched in 16 locations and taken up by over 20,000 children and their families, Kiwi Ranger later became the prototype for the national Kiwi Guardians programme. But its original kaupapa remains powerful: if we want to care for biodiversity, we need to nurture a generation who feels it in their bones. Kiwi Ranger shows what happens when good design meets grounded conservation values—and why getting the right team involved early can make all the difference.
