facebook Google+
45min
Grades: 3,4
Add your rate
Excellent
Very good
Good
Poor
Bad
Add to favourites Remove from favourites

Spark Art Lesson: How Do Children in Japan Celebrate Children’s Day?

ART, SOCIAL STUDIES

Get curious

4 min
Video/ Slide show (4 min)

Watch a short film about Children’s Day in Japan.

Clicking play will redirect you to YouTube website.
Ask: what unusual event takes place in the spring in Japan?

Get going

9 min
Listening (9 min)

Read a Japanese short story linked to Children’s Day aloud to the students.

Sit in a circle, preferably on the floor (e.g., on a carpet, or on mattresses or a blanket). Children listen to a short story that refers to the traditional decorations, which they will later make themselves in class.
Japanese short story
Vocabulary for students
7 min
Talk (7 min)

Discuss the story you listened to.

You can ask: 

Where, according to short story, does the tradition of hanging colored strings on masts originate? Who came up with this idea first? What wishes do parents express for their children when hanging colored carp on masts? What traits does a carp symbolize? Do you think such a tradition still exists in Japan?

Japanese Children’s Day
3 min
Video/ Slide show (3 min)

Watch a film to find out how the Japanese decorate the streets on Children’s Day in present-day Japan.

Clicking play will redirect you to YouTube website.
15 min
Creative expression (15 min)

Students make koinobori – traditional Japanese carp – from paper and decorate them using any technique of their choice.

Show instructional photographs, which will help students with making koinobori.

Instructions with photos
Carp template
4 min
Presenting results (4 min)

Hang up your carp in a desired location in the classroom, at school or in the backyard/courtyard of the school.

You can hang a rope/line between two points in the classroom and attach strings with carp to it.
3 min
optional Listening (3 min)

You can also listen to a traditional song sung by Japanese children on Children’s Day.

In the video, there is a translation and a phonetic transcription of the text, so students can try to sing the song in Japanese.
Clicking play will redirect you to YouTube website.

Get practicing

Creative expression

Students get to know what traditions and customs are linked to Children’s Day in their country – they choose a person who will tell them about these traditions and customs, and draw a picture about it.

Students find out what special things happen on Children’s Day in the country that they come from. How was this holiday celebrated in the past and how is it celebrated nowadays? Children ask parents or other older people about it and then draw a picture depicting a traditional Children's Day.
Perhaps they will be able to hear about legends, folktales or historical narratives linked with Children’s Day in their country.

Get ready


Get Going


Listening: Japanese short story linked to Children's Day

Creative expression: Making koinobori – traditional paper carp:
For each student:

You will download zip file now.
Back to lessons search
Add your rate
Excellent
Very good
Good
Poor
Bad
Recommend to a friend
Add to favourites Remove from favourites

Life Skills:

  • Social and cultural awareness

Authors

Authors: Tomasz Treppa, Katarzyna Nowak, Wioletta Laskowska-Smoczyńska
Methodology: Agnieszka Staroń
Translation: George Lisowski
Producer: Marta Przywara

Source

This is a modified version of a lesson plan created by the Children’s University Foundation under the CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. Photo Koinobori made by Kazuletokyoite published on flickr under the CC-BY 2.0 license.

Recommend to a friend

Spark Art Lesson: How Do Children in Japan Celebrate Children’s Day?
Students find out why colored carp-shaped banners appear on the streets of Japan on Children’s Day, hear Japanese short story and themselves make paper koinobori – traditional Japanese decorations.

Hi,

Complete lesson plans may be explored after registration for a WhyBlueSky. It takes about 10 seconds to register.
Register

Please verify your email

Just a quick formality: you have not yet confirmed your email. Please take a moment to click on the link we have just sent to your email account to continue using the service. Thank you!
OK

Loginonly for registered users