Tāmaki couple run wellness classes for young children

An Auckland couple has made it their mission to help young children across the motu develop their physical and emotional life skills through their independent active learning programme.

Ganina and her husband DJ Thompson (Ngāpuhi) are the founders of Made 2 Move – an online series focused on motor skills, joining fitness with play, learning about the human body and self-belief affirmations.

“It’s a positive platform to help tamariki to move and grow with confidence and to thrive physically and mentally for life. All the shows are an active adventure,” DJ says.

They started the kaupapa right before the country moved into lockdown in 2020, which meant they’ve only been able to perform to a live audience three times – the most recent at Rainbow’s End for the Uenuku Festival last week.

DJ Thompson comes from an 18-year run as a personal trainer and Ganina is a former gymnast and hip-hop dancer, so they feel their natural skills and abilities are a natural fit for the mahi they do with tamariki now.

“Living an active lifestyle has always been a part of us,” Ganina says.

“Our passion is kids and whanau, so everything we have done has led up to what we are doing now,” Ganina says.

Although Ganina isn’t Māori, she and DJ are both on their reo journeys and make a real effort to incorporate Te Reo into their shows whenever possible, with the help of partner charity Mahi Pai.

“We incorporate Te Reo Māori into our shows, as much as we can but we are learning as well and there are a lot of whānau that are in the same position as us,”  she says.

Although physical fitness and movement are at the forefront of most of their mahi, they emphasise their focus on mental health and helping children to understand their emotions.

“We’re always encouraging kids to feel how they’re feeling and it’s okay.

“We teach them to be positive through those times and you don’t have to be positive all the time.”