あやとり Cat's cradle

朝、あやとりをはじめようと思い、紐を取り出したらデンマークの人がひとりあやとりをはじめました。本当に驚いてしまいました。ヨーロッパの子供の遊びもあやとりがあり、女の子が遊んでいるそうです。また、韓国の女の子たちがいろいろな形を作ってくれました。日本独自の遊びだっと思いましたが世界中で同じ遊びをしているのですね。夏の最後にうちわに手形をつけました。カラフルな色の手形に母国語で名前と日付を入れました。夏の良い思いでになればと思います。
Rainy and cloudy today. Pool time is off but there are lots of other fun things planned out for today. Also we have a new friend from Korea joining us with her 2 daughters. Cat's cradle. In Japanese, it is called 'Ayatori'. It is a traditional game played in Japan mostly by girls where a string is looped on the fingers to form an intricate pattern between the player's hands and can be transferred to another player's hands. I have not played this game before in Malaysia and tried to remember several simple forms like broom and rubber band in preparation for today. Mothers from Denmark and Korea very good at it. I was fascinated watching them. Apart from playing cat's cradle, the kids are each passed a fan and they are given stamp pads to print their hand prints on one side of the fan. The mothers will print their hand prints on the other side of the fan. One of the kid from Korea drew the Korean Olympic soccer team mascot on the fan and another kid drew Pokemon characters. As usual, we have story telling in Japanese and English and dancing to some English songs. During lunch, we can barely squeeze everyone into the table. Yet another fun gathering. For next week, we will be making things using paper clay. Do come and join us.

POTATO Brochure

POTATO play group brochure is ready! Check it out.


POTATO Brochure

野菜のスタンプ Vegetable Stamping

レンコン、オクラ、ピーマン、生姜の葉（ペンにしよう）、ジャガイモのスタンプにカットした物を用意して、スタンプ台、絵の具で色をつけて自由に画用紙に絵を書きました。みんなきれいな色彩でとてもきれいに書けました。誕生日会をしました。お誕生日の子供の母親の手作りケーキでお祝いをしました。彼はちょっと恥ずかしくて照れていましたがだんだんと調子に乗ってきてお騒ぎになりました。お友達がもうすぐアメリカに転勤です。さびしいです。日本を楽しいんでください。
Vegetable stamping today! Lady fingers, burdock root, green peppers, lotus root, ginger leaf stalks and potatoes. Potatoes were sliced and decorations were cut into them. Lady fingers, burdock root, green peppers and lotus root were sliced. Huge colored stamp pads were used and the kids had a nice time decorating their papers with vegetable prints. What about the ginger leaf stalks? The ginger leaf stalks were used as paint brush. The kids dipped the ginger leaf stalks into different colored paints and started drawing things and writing their names on their paper. The kids hands and faces somehow got decorated as well. After that, the kids played in the pool for a while. After pool time, we read a Japanese story and an English story, From Head to Toe, by Eric Carle. The kids mimic the actions in the books and moved their body to the story. Birthday celebration today. The mother of the birthday boy baked a cake for everyone and we had a nice birthday celebration. As one of the participants was vegetarian, the cake was made without eggs. Just before going back, we danced to the Hokey Pokey and other English songs. The kids are getting used to the dance and kids and mothers alike jumped, shouted and had a nice time dancing. For next week, we will be doing hand prints on a paper fan. Come and join us.

保育園ViViの行き方 Directions to ViVi

Ever had problems trying to find out where ViVi is? Check out the directions from Hon Atsugi station to ViVi.

By foot - 20 minutes walk (refer to map below)
By bus - Take bus 16, 19 or 20 from bus stop no. 5 opposite the Hon Atsugi Station and stop at bus stop 愛光病院前(Aiko Byouin Mae). Cost 170 yen. Takes about 7 minutes.

小田急本厚木駅より
徒歩：２０分
バス：本厚木駅より５番乗り場、宮の里、宮が瀬行き愛光病院前下車。料金１７０円。７分ぐらいかかります。

地図　Map to ViVi from Hon Atsugi station

Birth of POTATO

Ever wondered how the POTATO play group came about? Check out the reasons why POTATO play group was started up and what we hope POTATO play group will be.

Aims and History

Voices of Mothers

The long awaited comments from mothers that attended Potato is finally uploaded. Please check it out.

Voices of Mothers

ホットケーキパーティーPancake party!

ホットケーキを外国の人に言っても通じません。英語でも韓国語でもホットケーキはパンケーキです。私はホットケーキは英語だと思っていました。60年近く生きてきて驚きです。このように異文化の人達としゃべるといっぱいいっぱい驚きがあります。ちなみに今日のホットケーキは私が作った物はだめでした。パンケーキは直径10センチにも満たない物です。食べてみると小さいパンケーキはチョコレートつけてもメープルシロップつけても食べやすく、シロップガぼたぼたこぼれません。みんな様もたまには小さなホットケーキでおやつをいかがですか。アメリカのパンケーキはブルーベリーやストロベリーをきじに入れて焼きます。今日も作ってもらっておいしかったです。来週はお休みします。21日はお誕生日会です。8月生まれの人は来てね。

Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancake party today. One of the mothers specially bought a book concerning pancakes and read it to everyone today. It was a very interesting book by Eric Carle and it describes the process of making pancakes right from how to get flour, butter and so forth. The kids dipped in the pool at around 10:15 a.m. and we started making the pancakes around 11 a.m. The pancakes turned out to be more popular than the kids' lunch. Who could resist teddy bear shaped blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, chocolate spread and whipped cream. Yummy! There will be no gathering next week so join us the week after for finger painting and vegetable stamping.