Tanabata

Everyday Japanese Words:

ohayo gozaimasu (oh-hi-yo go-zai-mus) - good morning
konnichi (co-hnee-chee-wah) - good afternoon
komban wa (com-ban-wah) - good evening
sayonara (sigh-oh-nah-rah) - good-bye
doozo (dough-zo) - please
arigato (ah-ree-gah-toe) -thank you
haha (ha-ha) - mother
chichi (chee-chee) - father
onna noko (on-nah-no-koh) - girl
otokonoko (o-to-co-no-co) -boy

Chopsticks

Japanese chopsticks differ from Chinese. Japanese are slender and slightly pointed. Try to pick up objects with a set of chopsticks for a fine motor activity.

Colourful Carp Hangings

Cut a fish shape from construction paper.
Use a paintbrush and a mixture of half glue and half water, gently paint over tissue paper pieces so there are no dry spots.
Hang or attach to stick to wave or 'fly'.

Alternative

Give each child a paper bag with the corners of the closed end tucked in and stapled to look like a fishes head, a hole cut in the centre for its mouth, and the open end scalloped for its tail.
Sponge paint 'scales' all over the fish.
Add eyes and tissue paper streamer 'tails'.
Punch a hole above and below the mouth to attach strings to fly or hang.

Japanese Paper Lanterns (chochin)

Fold a 12" x 18 " sheet of construction paper in half lengthways. Draw a heavy line about 1" from open end of paper.
Draw lines from the fold to the heavy line, about 1" apart. Cut on these lines only while folded.
Stop cutting at the heavy line. Unfold the paper and form it into a cylinder.
Staple the ends together.
Cut a paper handle and staple to one end of the cylinder. Decorate if you want.

If you have any left over wall paper, this would make nice lanterns.

Flapping Fish Game

Cut large newspaper fish in preparation (about 12" long). If you have lots of children let them decorate and put their names on them.

Lay out your start and finish lines. Give each child a newspaper folded in half, and have them line up with their fish. Now they have to flap the newspaper vigorously to make the fish "swim" along the floor.

The winner is the first across the line. Larger groups could do a relay race with the children taking over from one another on the start and finish lines.

Number Song (tune of Three Blind Mice)

Ichi, ni, san ( 1, 2, 3 )
Ichi, ni, san ( 1, 2, 3 )
Shi, go, roku ( 4, 5, 6 )
Shi, go, roku ( 4, 5, 6 )
Shichi, hachi, ku, ju ( 7, 8, 9, 10 )
Shichi, hachi, ku, ju ( 7, 8, 9, 10 )
Ichi, ni, san ( 1, 2, 3 )
Ichi, ni, san( 1, 2, 3 )

Onigiri (Rice Balls)

Ingredients:

sticky rice
tuna fish
water
spinach

Instructions:

Cook rice in a covered pot on the stove
Steam until soft and sticky. Cool slightly
Give each child a small handful of rice, a paper towel, and a bowl of water
Wet hands to keep the rice from sticking. Make balls out of the rice
Put a teaspoon of tuna inside. Traditional onigiri can be wrapped in seaweed, but you can use spinach as a substitute.

Moon Cakes (Makes 24)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup strawberry (or your favourite) jam

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 190°C = Gas Mark 5
Combine the butter, sugar and 1 egg yolk and stir
Mix in the flour. Form the dough into one large ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for half an hour.
Unwrap the chilled dough and form small balls in the palms of your hand. Make a hole with your thumb in the centre of each mooncake and fill with about half a teaspoon of jam.
Brush each cake with the other beaten egg yolk and place on a baking sheet.
Bake for about 20 minutes or just until the outside edges are slightly brown.

Sparkle Fish

Make a round template out of scrap card.
Lay the template onto a piece of brightly coloured paper and cover the exposed circle in glue
Sprinkle glitter over the glue and remove template to show a beautiful circular fish body!
Cut fins and a long shiny tail out of foil, glue in place
Use card scraps or paper to add eyes, mouth, gills etc...Sparkle Fish!!!

Streamers

Children can make streamers then they can watch them float in the breeze.

Take a paper towel tube and let the children cut and twist lengths of crepe paper to sellotape to one end. Then let the children decorate the tube with markers and stickers any way they like. This will be a big hit to dance around with during your outdoor play. Tip: You can also punch three holes at the top and attach string to hang and watch blow in the wind.

courtesy of Dagenham and Barking Childminding Association