Hello, I run a high school level Japan club. The kids founded this club to watch anime/learn about Japan. I try to make activity’s for the kids each meeting but am running out of ideas. I want to be able to “cook” more with them (we only have a microwave) and do activities with them more so it’s not just watching anime. We have done a few crafts and they loved them, so I know they would like to do activities as well. Any ideas of things I can do with students related to the culture of Japan would be great.
Note: We have no budget. All supplies come from my pocket. So we can’t do anything too crazy.
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/wkctdu/japan_club_help/
7 comments
This may be more for the next summer but how about learning about bon odori or obon practice?
Maybe learn how to make various types of noodles. And then get into learning how to make the various types of certain ones. If you can even get a hot plate, you might be able to do quite a bit as long as you can boil some water. Make hot and cold dishes and experiment with different types of flour and then consider setting up a ramen shop for the other kids at school.
The ingredients for noodles are also pretty cheap.
Added like something like this.
https://www.seriouseats.com/classic-cold-soba-recipe
Added
A little messy bit not too expensive.
Might be able to pick up some bulk white t shirts
https://www.artbarblog.com/shibori-dying-technique-with-kids/
You’ve already done origami? Its pretty cheap. Making cranes and weaving in the stories of their significance to the post-war Japanese, especially the survivors of Hiroshima/Nagasaki.
Most every Japanese kid knows how to make cranes and samurai helmet origami.
You can make mochi in the microwave if you have an international market somewhere and can buy mochiko. The recipe is on the internet somewhere, I used to make it before I moved. It’s SO sticky that it’s hard to clean up afterwards but that can be fun.
You could make wind chimes or teru teru bozu. The supplies for that should be pretty cheap and they have a lot of significance in Japanese culture.
Or if you want a longer project, they could try making zori slippers. You could have them bring their own fabric scraps and pitch it as an eco-friendly project, which would give you less supplies you have to purchase!
Are they learning the language too? If so, how about shiritori? Equipment needed: pen and paper / whiteboard, or (when you get better at it) nothing.
If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a word game where you start with one word, in hiragana / katakana, and then the next player has to start the next word with the last kana of the first word. EG
りんご -> ゴリラ –> ラッパ –> パチンコ – ことり (and so on). You lose if you end on ん, because nothing starts with that.
If they haven’t learned the language (or how to write it), you can still do it in English, but all the words submitted have to be related to Japan. You can impose limitations (like no final “n”) if you feel like it.
Algorithm taiso