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Main Theme= "Attach, Connect"


This program had five components: 1) three cycles, 2) using the five senses, 3) facilitating entry and exit, 4) intercultural communication, and in addition, 5) mimicking.

Like the June Playshop, the theme was relationships, using the metaphors of attaching and connecting. Children sensed the growth process of living things and relationships between human beings through activities that mimicked other living creatures and their evolution. They also experienced magnetic attraction and witnessed how complete opposites can relate to each other just as north and south poles attract.

Method


After checking in, parents and children were separated from each other, and all participants were divided into artificial families. In theme 1, "Growth of Living Creatures", the participants played a game in which they mimicked the movements of a butterfly in the process of emerging from its cocoon. Then, using craft materials they had collected as caterpillar and butterfly food, they created butterfly houses in their family space. In theme 2, participants created playful dance steps and presented them to "bamboo rhythm." As the dance reached a climax, they became attached to one another in "Magnet Man." After the reflection session, they made wishes and put them on a bamboo tree in commemoration of the Tanabata Festival.

Program

13:30 Check-in
Participants sat in a circle and sang playful songs as they waited for the program to begin.

This action was repeated later in the program. It aimed to induce a free and fun atmosphere among the participants. Facilitators introduced themselves.

13:40-14:30 Main Session 1
Growth of Living Creatures Game
1 Introduction and Example
- Participants watched a video of a butterfly developing from an egg, larvae, chrysalis, and into an adult.



2 Development of a Butterfly
- Each participant made a bag out of newspaper and pretended it was an egg. At a cue from the facilitator, they broke out of the bags, emerging as caterpillars and mimicking their actions.

- Participants searched for leaves as caterpillar food and brought them back to their family base. Parents searched first, followed by the children.




3 Gathering flowers and building a home
- Participants used their entire bodies to act as butterflies. After emerging as butterflies, they gathered flowers in families.

- On a piece of board, they designed a space for butterflies to live and drew butterflies on sheets of white paper and pasted origami.

- When completed, each family took a digital photograph in front of the board.

14:40-15:20 Main Session 2
Playful Dance and Magnet Man




1 The Bamboo Rhythm
- The participants used percussion instruments and enjoyed different rhythmic sounds. Chopsticks in different colors were handed out to each family member. Each family created its own rhythmic pattern and performed in front of the other families. This is similar to the bamboo dance.

2 Let's Connect with Magnet Man
- Green Magnet Man and White Magnet Man appear.

- Participants selected reflecting bands of their favorite color and wrapped them around their ankles and arms.

- As they did in the beginning of the program, participants sat in a circle and sang a playful song. As they sang, Magnet Man ran around the circle. When the music stopped, the moderator pointed to his/her right or left hand or right or left foot and the participants connected themselves to the Magnet Man wearing the same color reflector on this part of the body. This was repeated four times.

- In the final round, participants connected themselves to the Magnet Man who had the same color somewhere on an arm or a leg.

- The groups of white and green connected to create one chain.

- It was interesting that two elements, seemingly opposite, came together to form a circle.

- Two groups of two connected to become four. Two groups of four connected to become eight. In the end, everyone was holding hands with someone, even though it was in a twisted and tangled fashion. Participants untangled themselves without breaking the circle.

15:30-16:00 Playful Time (free time)
- Tables were set up in the hallway to turn it into a cafe terrace. Refreshments and drinks were served. Facilitators and participants interacted playfully. It was also a time for Noboru Kobayashi, Director and the parents/guardians to communicate. In the last fifteen minutes, the observers explained to them how to conduct the interview.

16:00-16:30

Reflection Time
- Participants watched a 3-minute video summary of the Playshop Day called Playshop News. Orihime and Hikoboshi, the heroine and hero of a Japanese folktale, appeared and handed out strips of paper for the participants to write their wishes.

- Guardians/parents wrote down their memories of the day and their wishes on the strip of paper and hung it on a bamboo tree. A photograph was taken of the bamboo tree.


16:30 End, sending off the participants