Hello from Japan! Yes, I was visiting my parents in Japan by January 14th. I enjoyed eating Sushi, Matcha tea, and Japanese sweets...Umm, Yummy! Today, I'm here for introducing my healthy storytime BKC that I have been doing so far 🙂
Japanese Newyear Food "Osechi"
End of 2018, I explained that people in Japan eat Japanese traditional new year food "Osechi" for celebrating the new year. It is made by a lot of dishes in a special bento box that we call "Jubako" and every dish of these traditional foods have special meaning in welcoming the new year.
For example, the grilled shrimp have their antennae and curved body (Like the curved back of the elderly), shrimp are a symbol of longevity and eaten during the new year.
Lotus root, with its many holes, is a symbol of an unobstructed view of the future.
So I provided an activity of making own Osechi box with the children! A kid said "Oishii!"(Delicious in Japanese) during the craft activity, and enjoyed them! Check out this cute and helpful video!
Ginger Bread House
As my field trip in December, we traveled to Hyatt hotel to see a lot of ginger bread houses! Actually, there are so many stories about the reason why people started making ginger bread cookies. One of them is for lasting long by using ginger in the cookies. And also ginger make our body warm, so it would be a good snack in winter! Of course, there are other purpose, but this time, I told this story to the field trippers and enjoyed seeing the cookie houses with the kids. I also told them "The houses made by cookies. That smells good and looks delicious. But it's not for eating. It is for decorating!" Then, the children kept saying "Looks so yummy! Oh! But it is for decorating!!" They were like they are reminding each other about it 🙂 That was so much fun!
The Story of the zodiac
During my vacation, teacher Chelsea was taking over my classes. She introduced some stories instead of me! (Thank you Chelsea!)
The one of them is the story of the zodiac. As you might know, there are 12 animals of the Japanese zodiac. Do you know how they decided their turns? The story is about the animal race on the new year's day to decide a king of the animals for a year. Each animal had tried the different ways to reach the goal like just running fast, starting it early, or tricking another animal. That's why some people say there are the zodiac personality for each people. This time, at Buddings, we crafted a pig as this year's zodiac animal. Using a paper plate and origami paper.
My zodiac animal sign is "fire tiger" and it's once in 60 years, which is not a normal tiger! Always they are by 12 years cycle. However, there is also 60 years cycle that is created by the combination of the twelve animal signs as well. Isn't it funny? What is your zodiac sign? 🙂
