July 2006
Out & About: Take Your Kids to Japan
Beginning Aug. 5, you can take your kids to Japan for just under $8, without buying a plane ticket, at the new exhibition, “Japan and Nature: Spirits of the Seasons,” at the Hands On Children’s Museum in Olympia.
The national traveling exhibit will visit 11 cities in three years, and Hands On is the only Northwest youth museum to receive it. The exhibition will run from Aug. 5, 2006 through Jan. 7, 2007. Funded by the Freeman Foundation, the exhibit is one of seven designed to tour the country and help teach American children about Asian culture.
“Japan and Nature” features four main interactive areas, each representing a different season and regional setting in Japan.
Celebrate the arrival of spring in Fukuoka, the largest city on the island of Kyushu. Picnic under bright pink cherry blossoms; raise carp windsocks and try on a kimono for Children’s Day; visit a classroom to practice calligraphy and feed the school’s pet animals.
Summer vacation is time for family camping near Lake Biwa,
Japan’s largest lake. At the campsite, go on a bug hunt and collect
Japanese kids’ buggy favorites; try fishing in Lake Biwa; and snap
a family portrait in front of one of the scenic views.
Fall in the mountainside city of Kyoto means a visit to one of Japan’s
most celebrated shrines. Discover how children learn respect for nature
through Shinto teachings; create a fall collage of leaves and nuts; dance
and drum in the annual rice harvest festival; and scan the horizon for
the special harvest moon.
Slip out of your shoes and step into a winter home in Sapporo, a city in the northernmost island of Japan. Safe inside the warmth of a living room, help a family prepare for the chilly weeks ahead by decorating the home for the season, ordering and serving special winter foods, making a New Year’s card, playing a traditional New Year’s game, and watching videos of wintertime activities.
Visitors can also participate in special art and science activities offered in conjunction with the exhibit, featuring artists and performers from Japanese cultural organizations in Olympia and Seattle. During the grand opening three weeks, Aug. 5 through 24, the museum will feature hands-on activities from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, free with museum admission. Activities include: Sand Gardens, Origami Artist and Paper Folding, Ikebana, Dragon Finger Puppets, Japanese Calligraphy, Japanese Doll House, Bookmarks and Japanese Music.
The museum will also feature Japanese art activities and a Japanese sand sculpture during its signature event, “Sand in the City,” held Aug. 25, 26 and 27 on Olympia’s waterfront. The entire event is free to the public.
The museum is located at 106 11th Ave. S.W. in downtown Olympia. Admission is $7.95 ($4.95 for toddlers 12 to 23 months and free for infants 12 months and younger). For more information on the “Japan and Nature” exhibit, Japanese summer camps or field trip workshops for elementary classes, or the “Sand in the City” event, call 360-956-0818, ext. 0 or visit www.hocm.org.
Hannah Steinweg is development
coordinator of the Hands On Children’s Museum.
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