もうすぐお正月 Christmas and New Year Party

今日は今年最後のポテトでした。5月から始まりあっという間の年の暮れです。色々な人にめぐり合い色々な考え方に触れました。ポテトでのめぐり合いは私の財産になると思います。今日は日本の伝統的な正月遊びをしました。福笑いとすごろくです。福笑いはいろいろな顔になりすごろくは真剣勝負でした。私が一番負けました。紙芝居はおみそかの話でした。英語の本とダンスはみんなすごく上手に踊れました。これも毎週踊っているからでしょう。みんな様も良い年をお過ごしください。1月は休みです。2月12日からスタートです。

New Year is just around the corner. POTATO members are introduced to some indoor games that Japanese play during the New Year. There is a game similar to snake and ladder but instead of snakes it is elephant and mice. There is another game with has the pictures of a traditional Japanese lady and man. The kids are blindfolded and they are given the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth of the characters and they are supposed to guess where is the parts of the face and place it on the picture. The face will end up distorted and everyone will burst out in laughter and there is a saying that laughter brings blessings. Musical intruments were passed out and the kids sang to Anpanman songs with the instruments. As usual, we have Japanese and English story telling and today a primary 2 Korean girl read the story in English for everyone. Everyone was amazed that she can read a second language so well at such a young age. Next, party time. One of the mothers suggested to have a pot luck party today so today we have many different dishes. Delicious. Korean seaweed roll, authentic Indian food, cakes, Korean glutinous rice, sandwiches, Japanese chirashi sushi, roast pork, Chinese steamed pork and others. I will be going back to Malaysia in January so there will be no gathering for POTATO playgroup in January. We will gather again on Feburary 12th so do come and join us then.

年賀状作り New Year Card

日本の年の初めご挨拶のカードを作りました。墨をすり筆にたっぷり墨を含ませ本来であればあけましておめでとうとか賀正などと書きますがみんなはクリスマスカードのようなものになってしまいました。しかし筆ではがきを書くことは楽しかったようです。墨の香りや私が持って来た年賀状の見本など見て日本の正月を楽しめたと思います。来週は25日で持ち寄りクリスマスパーティと正月の遊びをやります。最後ですので来てください。待ってます。

Japanese have a custom of sending out New Year Card on the 1st of January. The New Year card being sent out is in the form of a post card. For today, we gave each and every one a card and introduced the kids to calligraphy brushes. The kids used calligraphy brushes and crayons to decorate the card. Since Christmas is still in the air, some of the cards became Christmas cards rather than New Year Cards. Next week, we will be having a Pot Luck party. We will also be singing some songs and play some New Year games. Bring a dish and come and join us next week.

クリスマス模様 Christmas is in the air

クリスマスカードを色々な材料で作りました。色紙、鈴、星型に抜いた紙、ピカピカ光るテープ、モール、今回も写真のように個性豊かに仕上がりました。工作もだんだんその子の個性が出てきて面白いです。デンマークの方が紙を編んで作るクリスマスのハートを教えてくれました。私は第一段階の一番やさしいのを習いました。とても指先を使い注意深く作りました。ブログに乗せてありますのでご覧ください。来週は年賀状つくりです。日本の伝統的な便りです。
A new friend from China joined us today with her daughter. Welcome and do continue to join us. Christmas cards and Christmas decorations today. First, the kids are taught how to make a Christmas card　using a green card and decorated with shiny tapes, bells and stickers. After the kids are done with the cards, they played among themselves and we progress on to the next class which is to weave a patterned heart using 2 different color papers. This is taught by mother from Denmark. She can make really complicated patterns but for today, we started off with very simple patterns. As usual, we have story telling and singing and dancing in English. There will be a Japanese class party at room 403 (12 December) from 11 am to 2 pm. All POTATO members are invited. There will also be a party at room 202 on 13 December by the ViVi Day Care. Next week, we will be making New Year Cards. Do come and join us.

厚木北児童館 Christmas Decorations

秋晴れの空の下お散歩がてら厚木北児童館のおひさまタイムに参加しました。0歳児から3歳児までの日本人のグールプの中に入りおままごとをしたり自動車遊びにしたりして過ごししました。思ったよりすんなり中に入る事ができ安心しました。この年齢の子供たちは人種や言葉など関係なく最初はぎこちなく近いより遊び始めました。児童館から帰るのはいやで道路でだだをこねて私たちを困らせましたがおなかがすいていたのでしょうがなくポテトに戻りました。来週はクリスマスの飾りを作ろうと思います。先生は参加者のお母さんです。すごく楽しみにしています。

Mother from Denmark came today and brought with her more Christmas decoration crafts. Using 2 different color papers, you trace the templates of the pictures that you want to make and cut it using a scissors. After that, you weave the 2 pieces of paper together and it is like magic, you get really nice heart shape pictures. There are also some very simple templates that kids can make. We plan to do some of this next week so do come and join us. Nice weather today. We walked to the Kita Kids Community Center and unlike the previous time, there are lots of mothers and kids today. There is a person today from the Atsugi City Parenting Support Center and the teacher sang some songs and read some stories to the kids. No wonder it is so crowded today. We also dropped by the Kita Community Center to inquire about "Ai Ai" playgroup as one of the mother from India is interested to bring her boy there. After lunch, we ate some delicious Denmark Christmas treats that the mother from Denmark brought. Recipes of the treats will be posted later. Try it out if you like.