Medieval Times, Lesson 31

Japan

Tessa had an absolute blast studying Medieval Japan. (I will admit, most of what we actually studied ended up being more about Japanese culture in general.) We also had one of our most successful Fun Friday crafting days ever. There were so many great Japanese books to choose from that we couldn't read them all during school time, so we added several to our bedtime reading line-up as well.  

Wednesday

• Read The Usborne Medieval World by Jane Bingham (pages 72-73).
• Completed HO map work for Lesson 31, Main Lesson.
• Read "Being Shinto" (pages 54-55) from What I Believe: A Young Person's Guide to the Religions of the World by Alan Brown and Andrew Langley. (Love this book!)
• Read Count Your Way Through Japan by James Haskins.

Thursday

• Read Three Samurai Cats: A Story from Japan by Eric A. Kimmel.
• Read The Inch-High Samurai by Ralph F. McCarthy.
• Listened to Magic Tree House #5: Night of the Ninjas audiobook by Mary Pope Osborne.

Friday

• Read Little Oh by Laura Krauss Melmed.
• Read A Carp for Kimiko by Virginia Kroll.
• Explored traditional Japanese costumes with Dover Little Activity Book: Aiko from Japan Sticker Paper Doll by Yuko Green.
• Created "Koinobori - Japanese Flying Carp DIY" craft by Squirrelly Minds blog.
• Enjoyed Iwako Japanese Maneki Neko & Kokeshi Eraser Set.

Other Books of Interest

• I Am Tama, Lucky Cat: A Japanese Legend - Wendy Henrichs
• The Boy Who Drew Cats - Margaret Hodges
• Yoshi's Feast - Kimiko Kajikawa
• The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks - Katherine Paterson

Tessa is a fan of sticker paper dolls, so little Aiko was a big hit. I made extra color copies of the doll so she could dress Aiko in all of the costumes at once.

This Japanese flying carp craft was so much fun! I thought it might be a bit tedious for Tessa, but it wasn't at all. I did pre-cut the tissue paper and help in applying the double-sided tape. Other than that, this was her own creation. So cute!!

Tessa loves Iwako Japanese erasers. She's been rather sad that they seem to have gone out of vogue here in the U.S., so I ordered the Doll and Lucky Cat set above from a seller on eBay. It matches two of the books we read pretty well..."Little Oh" and "I Am Tama, Lucky Cat."

Apparently, the Iwako Doll and Lucky Cat set I ordered from the previously mentioned eBay seller was out of stock. He overcompensated by providing an abundance of loose Japanese dolls and Lucky Cats in addition to an entire Japanese food blister pack. Tessa was over the moon to say the least. We totally forgave him for the oversight!