Kai had a lot of friends in Fairfax, and especially, a boy who lived in the same apartment was a special friend. Kai always visited his room, and the friend visited our room too. I felt he was like Kai’s brother. And, you know, the best friends: whatever he liked, Kai liked. Kai spoke like he spoke, etc, etc.
In Hong Kong, Kai always talks about this friend, so I suggested sending a letter for him. We went to a gift shop, Kai spent a long time to choose a post card. Kai chose fireworks postcard. Kai said, “because he doesn’t know!!” In deed, we saw this fireworks on October 1st for Chinese National Day. It was one of the spectacular experiences in HK.
Kai writing “Dear… I love you,”
(Sorry!! I wrote on the card that Kai was drawing “a Roller Coaster,” but it was a playground which he wanted to take him!!)
The other day, we visited a post office.
Kai waiting in a line patiently. Everywhere in Hong Kong, we have to wait in a long line…
The unit of money is different in different countries, but “Money” is something we share in the most of the world. Also, children are observing adults’ lives, and children knew that money is something that has the “POWER.” Of course, it is natural way for children to seek that “POWER” and try to control it. Not only the power seeking for children, but also this play can be math, literature, and social activity. I really like this play, and I’m appreciate for my member of this play community.
This was hard. Because of the size of measuring cup, the texture of flour, and the size of the bag, he could not scoop the flour well. He tried several times, and he realized that when he switch his hand, (right to left) he could scoop♪
その後、塩・クリームオブタルタル・野菜オイル、水などを加えて、混ぜ混ぜ。 After that, he added salt, cream of tartar, vegi-oil, and water, he starired them.
塩の容器は、傾きによって出てくる量が違ってくるので、妙な角度になってます。Depends on the degree, the salt comes a lot or just little, so his posture became little strange.
混ぜる道具は、スプーン（最も馴染みが深い道具）で試してみた後、ハンドル付きの泡立て器を導入！ He tried to stair with spoon (the tool he is familir with), and then, I introduced hand mixer
スプーンで混ぜるには、量が多い！It was too much to stair with spoon.
He spilt it… Of course, I said, “Oh, mottainai (See What mottainai means). What could you do different? ” So, the all of blue and red batters went into the pot.
出来たプレイドウは、アツアツです。The fresh play dough is really hot.
My son loves racecars. He is always drawing racetracks and making racetrack with railroad. Oh, the birthday gift he chose by himself was also racecars. And, when we go to garage sell, basically he would buy racecars. Of course, his underwear, that he chose by himself, are PIXAR’s “CARS.”
“What can I do?” I was always thinking. Along root 37, I knew there was a racetrack, but I did not know how much it cost and so on. So, anyway, I decided to go.
It was after the race, so we could get in by just signing a paper. There was no car running on the track, but at the parking lot, there were a lot of cars preparing to go home. Not only the child, but I was also excited.
『うぉーーー！ スッゲー！！』を連呼しながら歩く親子。
皆さん、すごく親切で、子どもを運転席に乗せて下さいました。
The racers were so kind. The child was allowed to ride those cars.
その後、タイヤ交換をされている車を見学。 We saw a man changing a tire.
そこで、自分たちの車まで戻って来たところ、使い終わった後のマスキングテープを発見！
When we came back to our car, I found some used masking tape.
（車体に番号が無い車は、←このようにマスキングテープで、ゼッケン番号？を付けるようです。）
(The cars, which did not have own number, had to put number by masking tape like this.)
もちろん、子どもにマスキングテープを渡しました。 Of course, I gave the tape for the child. Then…
すると…
車にペタペタ張り付け始めました。 He started put on our car.
子どもが指をさした車は、先ほどタイヤの交換をされていた車…
父は、走りました。
The direction he pointed was the car we saw changing tire. So, I ran.
おぉ！ 確かに、『００』です！！
Yes! It was “00” !
というわけで、今、我が家の車は、ゼッケン番号 "００” を付けて走っております。
Thus, now, our car is running with the number “00”.
Usually, we use thin water colors (3 primary colors: red, blue, & yellow), and by mixing or diluting with water, we find and explore new colors and so on.
However, today, the child made really thick water colors, so we used them. At first, he used the usual small bins, but they all became just “black” because the water colors were too thick.
So, we went back to the room, looked for some materials.
Paper towel absorbed water so much. When the drop was dropped, immediately the color spread out. Especially, the part colors were mixed, it was so beautiful. And, the edge of the color, by the capillarity, the colors isolated like chromatography. I was thinking Chemistry…
なんだか、染色職人みたい…
He looks like a tie-dye man…
一区切りが付いた所で、子どもは別の遊びへ…
He went to the other play…
次に遊んでみたのは、シーツの残ってた部分。 The left over sheet.
これは、ちょっと驚きました。 シーツが、水を弾きます。
It was a surprise for me because the sheet did not absorb water.
スポイトだけでなく、他の道具を探して持ってきました。 Not only the eye dropper, but we also brought the other tools.
大きいブラシ、ペンキ用のブラシ、スポンジが付いててポンポン叩く感じのもの、書道用の筆、スプーン
Bigger brush, brush for real paint (How do you call those flat brush??), the sponge thing on the top, brush for Japanese Calligraphy, and spoon.
スポンジで、ポンポンするやつが気に入ったようでした。 He seemed liking the sponge one.
After they were dried, the kitchen papers became the top of the lighting table. Actually, the kitchen towel was two layered like tissue paper, so we played symmetry matching game, and then, we set for the table.
This time, I noticed that clearly he has much more attention for the blade of the knife. Also, I purposefully added some comments, such as “You like Kinako, don’t you?” to interrupt his concentration. However, although he joined to the conversation, his concentration for the use of knife was not interrupted. I was amazed by that.
包丁の刃が危険な事は話しあいましたが、『だから、どうする？』は、話しあっていませんでした。 子どもが自分なりに答えを見つけた瞬間だと思います。We discussed how sharp the blade was, but we did not talk about “how we treat knife?” This was the moment that he found the answer by himself.
今日のおやつは、海と話しあってバナナきなこを作ることにしました。 スライスしたバナナにきなこをかけると言う、シンプルなもの。For today’s snack, we discussed to make “Banana-Kinako(Soy powder).” It is pretty simple cooking. Just slice the banana and put Kinako on.
海も、ずいぶんと包丁の使い方に慣れてきたようです。 He was getting used to use knife.
しかし、慣れてきた頃が一番危なく、注意力が散漫になってしまいます。 However, this was the most dangerous time because he could easily loose his concentration.
この後、調子に乗って、ナイフをブンブンと振り回しましたので、この活動は、強制終了！ 子どもは、ギャンギャン泣き始めました。 『気を付けるから！』 『ちゃんと包丁持つから！』と、子どもがどんなに泣いて訴えても、今日はもうナイフは持たせません。このように、安全な活動が出来ないときには、即終了。 終わった以上は、どんな理由も受け付けません。 After this video, he swung his knife, so this activity was enforced to finish. Although he said, “I’ll be careful!” “I’ll hold knife safely!!”, and no matter how hard he cried, no more knife activity for today. I stay firm.
子どもの泣き顔を見るのはつらいですが、『自分が取った行動に結果がともなう』と言うこと、そこから “自由と責任”、ひいては“自立すること”を学んで欲しいと願います。It was really hard to see him crying, but I hope that he will learn “consequence of his action,” “freedom & responsibility,” “Self-Control,” and finally, “autonomy.”
