Pre-Kindergarten 2021/22/23: Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 21 Ganesha Ghar and Ohina-sama

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 21

Ganesha Ghar and Ohina-sama

In their current unit of “Animals and Food” the Pre-Kindergarten children have been very active.

They have so far created different crafts, art, bentos with play food, their own o-sechi, a gingerbread house, pizza, noodles with sauce and much more, just for the subject of food alone!

We decided to give the children the opportunity for another interesting connection by taking a trip and visiting the Indian restaurant Ganesha Ghar where the children could experience an additional food culture and have a little workshop.

And what a great excursion it proved to be!

We started the day with talking about Indian food and dancing at school, then boarded the school bus for an exciting ride to the restaurant in Kitano-cho !

At Ganesha Ghar we were already awaited by the owner’s wife, Ms.Sachiyo Dewan, her son Anil and their kind staff.

Ms.Dewan had put a lot of thought into providing an age appropriate experience for the little Pre-Kindergarteners to make a type of Indian nan, a dish that is often eaten at breakfast.

There was a variety of ingredients to chose from and the children rolled the dough, put their favourites in and baked some yummy breads.

Everyone was thoroughly happy and engaged and the parents had so much fun baking as well.

We then had some very delicious and plentiful lunch and lots of conversations and laughter could be heard.

Thank you again to the Dewan family for this very special opportunity and their graceful hospitality.

We are very grateful for your kindness and for your continuous support of the DSKI school program.

This week the children also had the chance to honour the culture of our host country Japan with the beautiful O-Hinasama festival which is held on 3rd March every year.

The O-Hinasama festival (also called girls or dolls festival in English) dates back to the Heian period when girls were given a set of dolls, O-Hinasama, representing the emperor and empress and their court. Families prayed for their daughters’ health and happiness, hoping also that their daughters would become kind, strong and courteous.

At Pre-KG we started the week and celebration by listening to the traditional song and then the children visited the Sheraton Hotel on Rokko Island to view their beautiful tiered set of O-Hinasama dolls!

The children were in awe of the amazing display and couldn’t wait to set up their own at school which they did so well by putting a flowered cloth and making sure the dolls were placed nicely.

A big thank you to the Pre-KG children for their contributions to make school a happy place.

Throughout the week the children made their own set of O-Hinasama, folded carefully with Origami paper after each child had chosen their favourite colour and design for the emperor and empress’ clothes.

The handmade dolls looked very cute and the children were very proud of them.

On Friday then the Pre-Kindergarten children enjoyed their own O-Hinasama party right in front of the display at the entrance with some yummy snacks provided by Mamoru’s father, Ms.Chinatsu and Ms.Anita.

There was lots of singing and cheerfulness and happy faces.

Hinamatsuri song