Kindergarten and nursery school crafts

It is Wednesday and I have a full day which means I don't have to time to read blogs or answer comments or write. (Long time visitors probably already notice I disappear on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Japan time).

So today a few pictures. No explanations or links to explanations (though I think I wrote about some these last year too.) These are from the kindergarten and nursery school I teach at. I just thought some of the activities were interesting.



These are pumpkins slices that the nursery school kids made out of clay. Don't they look real?

These are trying to be ogre masks. This was an art project at the nursery school for Setstubun which was a holiday at the beginning of February. The kids throw beans at the ogre who visits their house (usually Dad wearing a mask) and yell "Out with bad luck! In with good luck!"

This is an ongoing project at the kindergarten and the kids spend quite a bit of time learning how to braid and then SEWING the braids into a basket. My kids did this 20 years ago at the same kindergarten and I have still have the baskets somewhere in the closet.

Can you guess what this little boy and the kindergarten teacher are doing? She is teaching him how to sharpen a pencil with an exacto knife! Hey, I don't even know how to sharpen a pencil with an exacto knife! This is another activity my kids learned when they were in this kindergarten. I wonder if this skill has ever come in handy in the 15 or so years they've been out of kindergarten.



And here is some more clay modeling going on. The children are given a plastic form and then they make Girl's Day dolls while looking at the real ones that are up on display in the kindergarten. I hope to show those later this week.

Well I'm off for the day!