As Children’s Day approaches, our school has been filled with color, creativity, and excitement.🎏

At BIS Meguro, we value not only learning about cultures from around the world, but also about traditional Japanese culture. This time, we began by asking the question, “What is Children’s Day?” and shared what everyone already knew. The BIS Meguro kids also deepened their understanding by learning about the meaning and origins of koinobori (carp streamers) and kabuto (samurai helmets).

During quiz time, the children took on fun questions such as, “What do you put in the bath—mugwort or iris leaves?” When they found out that the correct answer was iris leaves (shobu-yu), they excitedly cheered, “Yay!” It was especially memorable to see their joy. They were also very curious about questions like “Why do we take a shobu bath?” and “What happens if you put iris leaves on your head?” The children listened attentively, showed great interest, and many said they would like to try it at home.

After that, they watched an original Beyondia picture-story show, “Flying Up to the Sky,” created by the staff. Through the story, they were able to learn about the meaning and origins of koinobori in an enjoyable way.

This time, each class created their own koinobori🎏, and we would like to introduce their work.

The Penguin and Dolphin classes decorated their koinobori using sponge painting. They dipped sponges into paint and pressed them onto the paper to create fun textures and colorful patterns. It was wonderful to see them chatting and laughing with friends as they worked, making it a joyful, sensory-rich experience.

Orca 1 used colorful origami paper and stickers to decorate their carp.  They carefully chose colorful origami pieces to create patterns, and added bright stickers to give their carp streamers extra personality.  They worked on improving their motor skills by carefully placing the stickers to look like fish scales.  It was lovely to see their focus and excitement as they proudly showed off their creations.

While Orca 2 worked on their precise coloring skills, using colored pencils to color each of the carp’s scales nicely.  Some of them kept their fish simple with only a few colors while others decided to make very intricate rainbow colored fish.  The students showed off how their motor skills have improved and their own personal style through their brilliantly colored koinobori.

Like the Penguin and Dolphin class, Orca 3 painted their koinobori.  As the 5-year-old class, they showed great care and concentration as they painted their koinobori. They thoughtfully selected their color combinations and used brushes with control to create detailed patterns such as scales, stripes, and waves. Many students took their time to plan their designs before painting, and then added extra decorations to make their koinobori unique.

Throughout the project, classrooms were filled with collaboration and joy.  Students shared ideas, helped one another, and celebrated each other’s work. The process was just as meaningful as the final pieces, highlighting creativity, teamwork, and cultural appreciation.

We hope everyone enjoys this colorful celebration of Children’s Day and the wonderful creativity of our students!🎏