Two classrooms of St Clair School pupils spent the day planting native habitat at Pukekura Reserve, Pilots Beach, to provide shelter for nesting little blue penguins.
The 58 pupils planted native coprosma and pikao to stabilise the sand dune area where an estimated 160 pairs of penguins nest.
''It's great for the kids. It gets them involved in their heritage,'' Royal Albatross Centre guide David Thornicroft said.
''They'll be able to come back here in 20 years and show their kids what they did.''
The project was part of the school's ''Can We Fix It?'' programme, which encouraged the children to find practical solutions to modern problems, such as climate change and species survival.
''We've been teaching them about technological changes and how they have impacted on the planet,'' assistant principal Claire Buist said yesterday.
''It's about them thinking nationally and globally, but acting locally. This is our back door and we wanted to do something with the kids where they could really see they had made a difference.''
