These 3 days before conferences, we are visiting the islands of Japan. We found Japan on the map and discussed what continent it is on, talked about what an island is and what oceans surround Japan, viewed the country's flag, learned about the country's national sport of Sumo, talked about an Emperor, and found out that many of Japan's children's games are similar to those in the United States. They simply have a different name. One of the activities that we did was a Japanese Fan Dance to the song "Sakura" or "Cherry Trees." Students learned that Japan gave the beautiful cherry blossom trees in Washington D.C. as a gift to the United States in 1912.
Students pose with their Japanese fans.
This action had students moving the fans to the side as if to motion "come with me."
Students raise their fans into the air to shake them around and down like the leaves on a tree.
Our second activity for Japan was an adaptation of an old game called Kendama which is meant to work on both eye/hand coordination and concentration. This game uses a cup-like stick with a wooden ball attached to the end. On the stick there are several options for how to catch the ball. There are 3 cup-like indentations, and a pointed part of the stick. The ball has a hole in it that allows the user to try and catch the ball on the point or it can be rested in the cups. It is a very challenging activity but there are some amazing YouTube videos of people who are extremely talented at this game and do amazing tricks. Students got the chance to watch a short video in PE.
In our PE class we adapted a scoop to use as our Kendama. We attached a dish scrubber to the end of the scoop with a long string and tried to move the scrubber so it could be caught in the scoop. This was actually quite a difficult skill for our young students but they were not deterred. It was fun to watch the children work intently on getting the scrubber in the scoop.
This student concentrates hard to get the yellow scrubber into the scoop.
The scrubber will swing out and up on the string and the
student will move the scoop underneath for the catch.
Success!!
Learning that the national sport of Japan is Sumo wrestling, I wanted to do a safe adaptation of this activity. I found out that Sumo is only done by men, there are no weight classes, and some matches can last a very short time. Opponents are inside a raised ring and simply try to push the other person out of the ring or touch the ground with something other than the soles of the feet. In PE we did an activity much like tug of war. Students used a short rope and had to pull their opponent to the opposite side of a line that was between them.
