Kodomo no Hi, and Haiku FREEBIE

As I mentioned last year at this time, despite having an ever-increasing number of Japanese relatives, we've only just begun incorporating Kodomo no Hi into our cultural observations. In times past, a family with no sons, like our family, would not have observed Kodomo no Hi; it was traditionally a celebration of sons and male children. Girls had, and still do have, a separate holiday, Hina matsuri, in March. Now, however, Kodomo no Hi has become more of a "Childrens Day," with less emphasis on gender. You can read more about the history and tradition of Kodomo no Hi in last year's post, or in this fascinating post by Melibelle in Tokyo.

Since we made koinobori last year, as well as learning the colors in Japanese (check out my multilingual FREEBIE), we wanted to do something new this year.

Two things came to mind right away. (Actually, three things came to mind, but I'll get to the third at the end of today's post.) One: we love books, and Two: we love the outdoors.

So if you're focusing on Japan, and thinking literature and nature, what else can you do but... HAIKU!

 Haiku with Kids

How can you "do Haiku" with a 6-year old? We began with the library, where we found a new favorite book, Guyku, by Bob Raczka. It's actually called Guyku: a Year of Haiku for Boys, but it truly wold appeal to all kids, and to the parents who read to them. Before reading, we talked about the 5-7-5 syllable structure of Haiku, which is definitely something a kindergartener relates to! And we talked about how a Haiku captures one single moment of time in nature. And from there, we read the book, counted some syllables, and tried to make up some funny lines of our own for the silly illustrations. Super fun!

To cement our new awareness of Haiku, we took a trip to an area arboretum. The Morton Arboretum in the Chicago suburbs is phenomenal, and hosts plantae from all around the world. The flowering cherry and pear trees from Japan were in full bloom today, and helped to inspire this Haiku-esque composition by Mag:

The blowing grass and

Branches are waving to me.

Petals loop-the-loop. 

I was impressed by the poem, and even more-so by the enthusiasm of participation. I see more Haiku in our future!

Would your kids enjoy having a go at Haiku, too?

Download our FREE Haiku drawing & composing page here. 

And thus concludes our first foray into Haiku.

But now, remember that 3rd thing that I said came to mind when we were thinking of observing Kodomo no Hi? I bet you guessed it: food! Watch later this week for our on-going Japan adventure and a great FOOD-related FREEBIE!

 Sayonara!

Japan-themed Children's Books

Leading up to Kodomo no Hi, Japan's "Children's Day," our activities have been very Japan-centric this week. (See coloring sheets and koinobori.) But what good are activities without a few books, right?

We read many, many Japan-focused children's books this week. Here are our best finds from the local library:

The Boy from the Dragon Palace

The artwork alone makes this book! Influences of Sacramento-based, native Japanese illustrator, Sachiko Yoshikawa's dual-cultural background are evident in the bold and engaging images. More importantly, the story has an important lesson about gratitude and greed that will be appreciated even by young listeners in the target 4-7 year old range.

Please note: the little boy in the book is called "the snot-nosed boy" by the primary character. I revised that to be simply "the boy" in my reading and could get away with it having a pre-reader, but a child old enough to read will definitely notice the snot-nosed part. (The term "snot-nosed" was not thrown in for gratuitous giggles, which is sometimes the case in children's books. It did appropriately represent the attitude of the egocentric main character. Nevertheless, it is not vocabulary that I willingly introduce to my 5-year old.)

The Beckoning Cat

Have you ever noticed a little statue of a cat in an Asian restaurant or grocery, a cat with one paw lifted up by its head? That figurine has its basis in a Japanese folktale, retold in this storybook. What I love about this book is the opportunity for "text-to-self"-type connection (all the rage with elementary teachers, right?) that can occur after its reading. I am sure from this time forward, Mag will always notice the beckoning cat figurines. I see many future opportunities for her re-telling of this story!

The story itself is fairly simple, with no real moral or lesson, and the artwork is just average. Nonetheless, I recommend The Beckoning Cat for the exposure it offers to another culture, and for the opportunities to connect the book to a symbol that is often seen in one's dining and shopping milieus (assuming you eat and/or shop in Asian establishments from time to time).

So there you have it, our two new favorite Japanese-ish storybooks. 

How about you?

Any great books from or about Japan to recommend?

In Kürze (German = coming soon): Take Me Out to the Yakyu, our very favorite book about Japan!

Kodomo no Hi: Koinobori

This week leading up to Kodomo no Hi has felt like a mini adventure. In the past, our cultural activities have primarily been Western-focused, with a little Philippines mixed in here and there. Spending some time getting to know more about Japan has been far more exciting than I would have guessed. It's not that France and Germany aren't exciting; it's just that they're so familiar. Learning about a country that is completely foreign to us feels like meeting the World all over again. Love it!

So what's next, after our Japanese color fun? Koinobori, the koi-shaped windsocks! While we didn't follow the traditional color scheme (that I mentioned here), we did make our own construction paper koinobori, which we will display outside on Kodomo no Hi. I understand that in Japan, koinobori might be flown for weeks, but the Midwestern spring weather has kept ours safely locked indoors until the big day.

We will also be making this easy variation of mochi, but filling with chocolate rather than red bean paste... or perhaps swinging by our local Asian grocery to find the real deal, depending on how the week goes. On verra...

Anyone else celebrating Kodomo no Hi with their students or children?

Tell us about it!

Glossary:

On verra. = (French) We'll see.

Kodomo no Hi - a Japanese FREEBIE!

This is our first year "celebrating" Kodomo no Hi, Japan's Children's Day. With Mag having one Japanese uncle and another Japanese almost-uncle, I'm not sure how we missed this event in past years... but anyway, better late that never.

For today's focused fun, we learned color names in Japanese. There's something fun (and easy!) about color names in other languages, isn't there?

I made a mini-poster and a coloring sheet for this activity, which are available for FREE at my TpT* store. The poster is in Japanese (complete with Japanese characters!). Each coloring sheet combines Japanese with 1 of 4 languages, English, Spanish, French, or German, making them perfect for school, homeschool, dual language immersion programs, everyone!

click image for FREE TpT download

FREE coloring sheets available in English, Spanish, French, and German

*Why do I love TpT? 80,000+ free teaching resources (like my Kodomo no Hi freebie!)... plus a lot of great not-free ones, too... what's not to love? Race on over and become a member!

More Kodomo no Hi coming soon...

Edited to add:
This post is linked up to "Manic Monday" FREEBIE linky party at Classroom Freebies. Swing over to check out 90+ freebies (at the time of this posting... more to come, I'm sure).

Kodomo no Hi... the "other" Cinco de Mayo

Yes, we all love a good Cinco de Mayo celebration. The food, the music, the piñata... But have you ever wondered if there might be more to the Fifth of May than just what's happening South of the Border? Well, there is!

"Kodomo no Hi" is Children's Day in Japan.

public domain image

Like Mexico's Cinco de Mayo, Kodomo no Hi is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the year.

The most noticeable tradition associated with Kodomo no Hi is the koinobori pole. In the past, only families with sons flew these koi-shaped windsocks atop their homes. These days, the koinobori generally represent sons and daughters of a family. Traditionally, the top koinobori is black, representing the father, followed by a red koinobori for the mother. Below that are seen a blue koinobori for the eldest son/child, then green for the next child, and either purple or orange (depending on the region) for more children.

Kashiwa-mochi (rice cakes filled with red bean paste and wrapped in oak leaves) and chimaki (sweet rice paste wrapped in an iris or bamboo leaf) are traditionally served on this day.

We will be making koinobori later in the week, and possibly trying our hand at a modified mochi recipe... or maybe swinging by the local Asian grocery store to see what they have for the big event.

And you? Have you celebrated Kodomo no Hi? Any fun ideas?