Big Heart Day

Support the Heart Foundation's Big Heart Appeal and hold a Big Heart Day in February 2025 at your early learning service.

A Big Heart Day is a fun day when tamariki, whānau and staff come together to raise awareness about keeping our hearts healthy to prevent heart disease.

Everyone gets involved to learn about healthy hearts and raise funds for life-saving heart research.

Register now

How to get involved

There are heaps of fun ways to hold your own Big Heart Day fundraiser.

Your centre could:

  • Share healthy kai, get the tamariki to help make healthy red food. Get creative and try colouring food such as spaghetti with beetroot juice!
  • Yoga, meditation or exercise class. 
  • Hold a disco
  • Dress in red day
  • Explore the human body and where the heart is.

Win a visit from Hearty

If you host a Big Heart Day, your service could win a visit from Hearty.

To enter, email us:

  • the category you’re entering (choose from the list below)
  • your early learning service name
  • photos of your Big Heart Day and a brief description of how your service represented the category.

Email your entries to: bigheartday@heartfoundation.org.nz by 31 March 2025.

Categories

Choose one of these categories to enter:

  • best whole centre engagement
  • most rainbow kai
  • most active day
  • most creative coin collector box.

Terms and conditions for the Win a visit from Hearty competition

  1. This competition will run for the period 1 February 2025 to 31 March 2025 (the 'Promotional Period').  
  2. The competition is only open to New Zealand Early Learning Services who register to hold a Big Heart Day between 1 February to 31 March. 
  3. To enter the competition, entrants must email a photo of their Big Heart Day event to bigheartday@heartfoundation.org.nz during the months of February and March. Only one entry per Early Learning Service is permitted.
  4. No purchase or fee is required to enter the competition.
  5. The prize is a visit from the Heart Foundation mascot, Hearty, to the winning early learning service (The Prize). Winners can specify their chosen date and time to redeem their prize.  
  6. Entry into the competition is deemed to be acceptance of these terms and conditions.
  7. Heart Foundation staff members and their families are not eligible to enter the competition.
  8. The prize winner will be drawn by the Heart Foundation by random selection from all the valid entries on 10 April 2025. The Heart Foundation's decision is final.
  9. The winner will be notified in mid-April 2025 by the Heart Foundation via the contact details on record used to enter the competition.
  10. The Heart Foundation is not liable for any loss, damage or injury by any person in connection with the competition or the prize.
  11. The prize is not transferable or redeemable for cash.
  12. This competition is run by the National Heart Foundation of New Zealand, 9 Kalmia Street, Ellerslie, Auckland, 1051.

Big Heart Day activity ideas

Big Heart Day ideas

Activity: Create a heart rainbow

Beetiful beetroot baking 

Create a coin collector

Leaf heart art

Media release template

Use our media release template to inform the local media about your Big Heart Day. It'll be great publicity for your early learning service.

Media release template

Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award

If you're doing the Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award, get parents and whānau involved in the fun and use your Big Heart Day towards the collaboration strand. Remember to take photos for your evidence.  

A Big Heart Day is a great way to kickstart a heart-healthy new year. The kids will have lots of fun too!

Big Heart Day donations

Deposit the donations collected for life-saving heart research into the Heart Foundation BNZ account - 02-0192-0049684-004.

Please reference your early learning service name and Ministry of Education number.

Alternatively, you can use a BNZ SMART ATM:

  • Select ‘Cardless Deposit’ on the home screen of the Smart ATM, and enter the Big Heart Appeal account number – 02-0192-0049684-004

  • To make a deposit, select Deposit Coin, Notes/Cheques, allowing you to deposit coins, notes and cheques in the same pledge.

  • Enter your surname as a reference.

  • Deposit the coins first using the coin side cart to the left of the ATM screen. Empty the entire contents into the coin side cart, and the ATM will begin counting the total automatically. Most ATMs can only accept 600 coins per deposit. The smart ATM will then show you a summary of your deposit. You can add more coins at this stage if you have more to deposit.

  • Next, insert your notes into the ATM. You can insert the entire bundle simultaneously, and the ATM will count the total automatically. Most ATMs can only accept up to 50 notes per deposit.

  • Complete the deposit and collect your receipt as proof of submission.

NB: Note and coin deposits are automatically counted, so there is no need to complete a deposit slip. Please ensure the money is deposited by Monday 10th March 2025.

To make the fundraiser real for tamariki, check the funds raised daily and ask tamariki to fill a bottle, add discs to a jar or create your own tactile, engaging and visual representation of the funds you are raising.

Thanks for your support!

We’re grateful for the life-saving funds Big Heart Days provide.

Good luck! We hope you get a visit from Hearty soon.