Otamajakushi wa kaeruno ko

"We can’t go to the park today…” This is what many of us said when it was raining. However, we had a lot of fun doing indoor activities. First thing in the morning, we finished our Ajisai group picture. Some of us added more origami ajisai, glued origami katatsumuri(snails) and drew pictures of ants and rainbows. At the small table, we had two activities. One of them was making presents for our otousan (fathers). Earlier, we made dress shirts with A4 white paper and ties with our (or otousan’s) favorite colored origami. Today, we drew our otousan’s face and wrote a message. We hope our otousan will be happy to receive our gifts for Father’s day. In Circle time, we did a matching activity. There were pictures of butterflies, dragon flies, frogs, crocodiles and dinosaurs. We needed to match these with their babies and eggs. This matching game wasn’t easy at all. Baby dinosaurs and baby crocodiles look a lot alike as well as baby butterflies, dragonflies and frogs look different from their parents. Even though many of us have never seen these eggs and babies for real, Ava knew a frog’s baby is a tadpole and Toku found the picture of the baby dragonfly (larva). We also know that butterflies lays eggs on leaves and that caterpillars become butterflies from the ‘VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR’ book! Ayaka read “umaretayo! Otamajyakushi” With this book, we could see what a frogs egg looks like and how it develops into a tadpole and then a frog little by little. After book time, we made jumping frogs with card and a rubber band each. We had a jumping contest together to see whose frog could jump the highest. Tomorrow, we will go to Azabu Juban frog shrine. There are stone sculptures of parent and child frogs, representing the “Gamaike Legend”. This is said to protect against burns and fire. According to the legend, a giant frog appeared suddenly out of an old pond spouting water to extinguish the raging flames; since then, the frog is said to protect against fire. In recent years, the frogs have also gained popularity among younger people because the Japanese word for frog, “kaeru,” has the same pronunciation as the word for return: waka-gaeru (return of youth), shiawase-gaeru (return of happiness), otoshimono-kaeru (return of lost items), nandemo-kaeru (return of anything). We hope that weather stays dry for us tomorrow! All our Love, Ayaka, Sharee and Darren