Asia Week: Hello Japan!

We're wrapping up our tour of Asia with a stop in Japan... the land of sushi, samurai and sumo wrestlers! This enigmatic country is so full of contrasts that it was hard to choose just what to do with my campers! And because I just couldn't choose I prepared two projects for my older Imaginators... but before we get into that let's check in with Immigration and Customs, get our passports stamped and settle in to learn a little about life in Japan! 

By now the Imaginators know the drill so as soon as our little intro video was complete launched into our discussion. We had some interesting chit chat about what they would most like to see or do in Japan if they were to go there for real! Take in a live Sumo Wrestling Match... sleep on a tatami mat... or maybe trek through an amazing bamboo forest?

Can you really talk about Japanese art though without mentioning origami? We did a simple origami bookmark of a lady dressed in a Kimono. Then they started on our main project which was painting the beautiful Cherry Blossom Tree and we did it in a very cool way! Take a look at one of my campers as she blow-paints her tree!

We talked about Hanami or the Sakura festival. Sakura is the Japanese name for Cherry Blossom. Hanami is a day set aside for appreciating the beauty of the Sakura flower! Friends and families go out to parks and have picnics and just enjoy the beauty of these magnificent trees. They are very much like our native Poui trees and similarly they bloom for only for a couple weeks a year. The Japanese use this as a metaphor for the transient or fleeting nature of life, which is an important theme of Buddism (the main religion in Japan)! 

Take a look as they complete both projects!

So they have 2 souvenirs to add to their suitcases for Japan! Check out what they did over at The Reading Garden.