Larrikin Puppets join Miss Nicky Says for new ‘Pepeha’ project

We’re excited to have been part of a very special project with award-winning children’s artist Miss Nicky Says, bringing music, puppetry and cultural education together to help tamariki learn about pepeha, whakapapa and their connection to whānau and whenua.

We were excited to be invited to work with Miss Nicky Says on her new Pepeha project, bringing some of our characters to life alongside her music and education.

Created by New Zealand children’s artist Nicolla Hemi-Morehouse, Miss Nicky Says, the project has been developed to help tamariki learn more about their pepeha, whakapapa and tūrangawaewae through original waiata, visual storytelling and puppetry.

The project brings together six original waiata, each exploring different elements of pepeha, including maunga, awa, roto, moana, waka and whānau. Each song is accompanied by a music video, with additional episodes where Miss Nicky Says and her special guest puppet characters from award-winning puppetry company Larrikin Puppets share kōrero about the songs and the ideas behind them.

Bringing Larrikin Puppets characters to the project

For us, one of the most exciting parts of the project has been seeing our puppet characters become part of Miss Nicky Says’ colourful world.

Troggg, our blue monster star, features alongside Miss Nicky Says in the project, including the music video for Do You Know Your Pepeha? and the waiata Awa Moana.

The puppets are performed by Brett Hansen and Elissa Jenkins, interacting with Miss Nicky, responding to the songs and helping create a playful environment for young viewers.

Watch the Pepeha project

The Pepeha project gives tamariki and whānau an opportunity to explore pepeha through music, puppetry and visual storytelling.

The project encourages children to learn about where they come from and the connections between people, place, family and identity. It also encourages tamariki to ask questions, find out more about their whakapapa and have a go at sharing their own pepeha.

Watch the Pepeha project from Miss Nicky Says, featuring characters from Larrikin Puppets.

Music, puppetry and learning

One of the things we love about puppetry is its ability to make ideas accessible to young audiences. A puppet can ask the question a child might be thinking, make a silly mistake, react with surprise or simply have fun alongside the audience.

That makes puppetry a natural fit for a project like Pepeha, where the aim is to encourage tamariki to be curious, ask questions and begin discovering more about their own connections to whānau and whenua.

The project has been created with support from NZ On Air and brings together Miss Nicky Says’ waiata and storytelling with colourful visual production and character puppetry.

Awa Moana is one of the songs in the project, exploring the relationship with the ocean. The single features Troggg alongside Miss Nicky Says.

A creative collaboration

This isn’t our first creative collaboration with Miss Nicky Says. Larrikin Puppets previously worked with Miss Nicky on her music video We Say “Kia Ora”, which brought our puppet characters together with her music and performance.

We love working on projects like these because they give our puppets a chance to do something a bit different from our live puppet shows. Instead of performing on our usual puppet theatre stage, we get to work directly with cameras and monitors on set, with music and other performers to create something that can reach children well beyond a live audience.

It also gives us the opportunity to bring the same character-based puppetry techniques we use in our live performances into music videos and other filmed projects.

A project for tamariki and whānau

Pepeha has been created as an accessible resource for tamariki, whānau, schools, kura, childcare centres and educators.

The six waiata explore different parts of pepeha, providing opportunities for children to become familiar with te reo Māori vocabulary while learning about connections to people and place.

We’re proud that Larrikin Puppets has been able to contribute to that process through the performance of our puppet characters.

And, of course, Troggg has had a great time along the way!