Kākā
Years 1 to 13
the cheeky mascot parrot who steals pies, counts everything, and gets into mischief. Catchphrase: "Ka pai" Secretly terrified of the vacuum cleaner. Collects shiny things and hides them in his nest behind the school bike shed.
The Cast
Maths is easier when you know who you are helping
Every question in Kākā Math happens to somebody. Farmer John has lost his sheep again. Chef Yuki is doubling a recipe. Kākā is counting the coins he found down the back of the couch.
The same faces come back year after year, so a fraction in Year 4 and a quadratic in Year 11 feel like part of one long story rather than a fresh pile of sums.
The Artwork
The pictures grow up too
A picture that delights a six-year-old can feel babyish to a fifteen-year-old, and that matters more than it sounds. A senior student who thinks an app is for little kids stops opening it.
So the cast stays the same and the drawing changes. Here is one scene, Matiu sharing out a basket of feijoas, drawn three ways.
Storybook
Years 1 to 5, ages 5 to 10
Warm watercolour, the feel of a picture book read at bedtime.
Graphic novel
Years 6 to 9, ages 10 to 14
Confident ink and cel shading, drawn like a graphic novel rather than a cartoon.
Editorial
Years 10 to 13, ages 14 to 18
Restrained editorial art, the kind that runs beside a serious feature.
Who Is Who
The regulars
Thirty of them, most drawn from the New Zealand your child already recognises. The years listed are where each one currently turns up in the curriculum.
Mr Patel
Years 1 to 13
the dairy owner who gives the best change-counting challenges and knows every price by heart. His dairy has been on the corner for 30 years. Stocks exactly 47 types of lolly. Runs a tab for half the neighbourhood.
Coach Tama
Years 1 to 13
the enthusiastic rugby/netball coach who uses maths for everything, calculating passing angles, sprint distances, and nutritional splits for game day. Former NPC player. Gets emotional during haka practice.
Ranger Ben
Years 4 to 13
a DOC ranger who tracks kiwi, measures trails, and monitors weather data in the Marlborough Sounds. Carries a GPS, a notebook, and too many pens. Gets genuinely excited about trap-catch ratios.
Captain Jess
Years 4 to 13
a harbour ferry skipper who navigates timetables, distances, and tides. Knows the Hauraki Gulf like the back of her hand. Tells terrible nautical jokes. Once rescued a kayaker and a seagull on the same trip.
Matiu
Years 1 to 13
a kid who's into coding, Minecraft, and speedrunning. Sees maths patterns in pixel grids and game mechanics. Wants to be a game developer. His bedroom walls are covered in graph paper designs.
Farmer John
Years 1 to 13
a hapless farmer whose sheep are always escaping, fences always breaking, ute always running out of petrol. Keeps a running tally of fence repairs on the back of his hand. His dog Zorro is clearly the brains of the operation.
Dr Aroha
Years 4 to 13
a marine biologist who studies dolphins in the Hauraki Gulf. Passionate about ocean conservation, collects water samples, and tracks pod sizes over time. Gets seasick on choppy days but refuses to admit it.
Miss Honey
Years 3 to 13
the kind Year 5 teacher who loves gardening, cooking, and sneaking maths into craft projects. Grows herbs on the classroom windowsill. Her classroom smells like lavender and whiteboard markers.
Nan Helen
Years 1 to 13
a retired English teacher and everyone's favourite nan, a wonderful storyteller, endlessly caring, sharp as a tack. Knits while watching rugby, always has ginger crunch and a pot of tea ready. Secretly competitive at Scrabble and crosswords.
Aunty Lina
Years 1 to 13
the aunty who runs the school tuckshop. Legendary for her portion sizes and lightning-fast mental arithmetic. Can calculate change for six customers simultaneously. Her sausage rolls have a cult following.
Uncle Sione
Years 4 to 13
a builder and carpenter from South Auckland who measures twice, cuts once, and sometimes still gets it wrong. Builds decks, fences, and playgrounds. His ute is legendary for the number of things strapped to the roof rack. Makes the best hāngī in the street.
Whaea Mei
Years 1 to 13
a market gardener who runs a stall at the Saturday farmers' market. Grows kumara, silverbeet, and courgettes. Does all her pricing in her head. Gives free feijoas to kids who can answer a maths question.
Chef Yuki
Years 5 to 13
a fusion chef who's always scaling recipes and experimenting with flavour combinations. Runs a pop-up kitchen at festivals. Obsessively precise with measurements. Her matcha lamingtons are famous.
Constable Rosa
Years 4 to 13
a community police officer who loves solving puzzles and mysteries. Runs the neighbourhood safety programme. Always carries a notebook and has a knack for spotting patterns. Organises school road patrol training.
Mele
Years 4 to 13
a kid who tracks sports stats for every game and turns everything into a competition. Keeps a notebook of records. Can recite the top try-scorers in NZ rugby from memory. Wants to be a sports data analyst.
DJ Tāne
Years 6 to 13
the school disco DJ who counts beats, calculates playlists, and is always running out of time. Dreams of playing at Rhythm & Vines. Knows the BPM of every song. Blows the music budget on fog machine fluid.
Poppa Alan
Years 6 to 13
a retired naval officer turned conservationist. Walks every Great Walk and counts the birds along the way. Measures everything in nautical miles. Carries a head torch and a flask of tea everywhere.
Ava
Years 2 to 10
a kid obsessed with baking who accidentally doubles every recipe. Her cakes are either enormous or disastrously tiny. Dreams of entering the Great Kiwi Bake Off. Her school locker smells permanently of vanilla.
Mrs Chen
Years 4 to 13
a grandmother who runs tai chi in the park, knits for the whole neighbourhood, and calculates everything in her head faster than a calculator. Wins every quiz night. Her dumplings are the stuff of legend.
Hemi the Hedgehog
Years 1 to 7
a garden hedgehog who hoards apples, counts his spines, and builds impressive leaf-pile nests with mathematical precision. Shy but surprisingly fast when he spots a slug.
Bruce the Wētā
Years 5 to 10
a giant wētā who lives in the school shed and scares everyone but is actually great at geometry. Moves slowly, thinks carefully, and always gets the right answer. Surprisingly gentle.
Kea
Years 2 to 12
Kākā's cheeky mountain cousin, an alpine parrot who dismantles everything, solves puzzles, and steals tourists' sandwiches. Lives near Arthur's Pass. Has figured out how to open car doors.
Stoat
Years 6 to 13
a sneaky introduced predator who causes trouble wherever he goes. Quick, cunning, and always up to no good. He steals, hides, and sabotages things, and the other characters have to use maths to fix the mess he makes.
Tui
Years 1 to 13
Kākā's noisy best friend, a cheeky tui who copies everyone, repeats numbers back wrong, and is convinced she can sing better than any human. Known for interrupting maths lessons with her impressions.
Pīwakawaka
Years 6 to 7
a hyperactive fantail who can never sit still and flits between numbers. Zigzags constantly, making patterns in the air. Appears when you least expect her.
Zorro
Years 7 to 8
Farmer John's mischievous sheepdog and Kākā's unlikely best mate. Smarter than John, herds things into neat groups, and steals socks. Has perfected the art of looking innocent.
Koro the Kiwi
Years 7 to 8
Kākā's gentle night-owl friend, a nocturnal kiwi who only does maths at night and measures everything with his long beak. Quiet, methodical, and surprisingly accurate. Hates bright lights.
Kākāpō
Years 3 to 8
Kākā's slow, lovable cousin, a round, gentle parrot who takes forever to answer but is always right in the end. Endangered and precious. Waddles rather than flies. Smells faintly of honey.
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