May is Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. To celebrate, this month's free Activity Calendar features a series of DIY activities inspired by stories from Asia and the Pacific Islands. Inspired by the beautiful book by Jane Bahk and Felicia Hoshino, in this activity kids use an empty jar and their imaginations to collect treasures and create new little worlds.
If you do not yet have your free copy of the May Activity Calendar, get it here.
The Guide
Watch or listen to the read-aloud of Juna's Jar by Jane Bahk and Felicia Hoshino, a beautiful story of a Korean American girl, Juna who uses her family’s empty kimchi jars to collect all kinds of nature treasures. Juna’s jar becomes a tool for not only gathering, but for creating, learning and inspiring marvelous imaginary adventures.
Get a Jar: Wonder with kids, “I wonder what kind of jar/container we could use to collect treasures like Juna did?” Find a jar or container from your home that kids can use to create their own collections. There’s much to love about glass jars—they are wonderfully clear, sturdy and relatively kind to the earth and support observation nicely. And, we’ve found, kids can learn to be really careful with them. They can break, even in our hands, so, if you are worried about that, try cleaning out a plastic container or use a metal can or bucket instead.
Head Outside: Head out to one of your favorite outdoor spots. Bring your own jar, too, if you want to encourage kids’ independence and enjoy a little of your own treasure gathering.
Gather! Hand kids their jar or place the jar down somewhere. Encourage kids to gather whatever they’d most like to put in their jar. If you brought your own jar, go about the business of looking and filling your jar. Support kids in gathering in whatever way and at whatever pace they like, and just keep the jar handy while you are outside. Sometimes, kids remain focused on their jar and the task of filling it. Often, kids gather in little bits, coming back to the jar when they’ve found something as they play in other ways.
Marvel at what you’ve found: Bring your jar(s) to a blanket or resting spot to observe. Or, you may want to bring them home to observe. Ask kids to tell you about whatever they’ve gathered. Wonder if they’d like to keep it for a while. Make something out of it?
Living Creatures: If we can support kids in being gentle and thoughtful, adding living creatures to their jar can give kids the chance to observe their wonders up close and fall even more in love with nature—something that will likely lead to a deeper sense of stewardship down the road. It can also support kids in developing empathy, especially if we prompt them to think about what this creature needs, how this creature might be feeling, and how to take care of the creature in this moment. If kids have collected any living things, be sure that the creatures have all they need (food, water, air holes), observe them gently and make a plan for when to return them to their habitats.
Keep collecting: When kids are ready, return whatever they’ve collected. You may want to return any nature treasures back to where you found them, as all of the objects and creatures in nature are part of the balance! Then, start again—there are always new things to notice, observe and marvel at outside! If jar contents become precious, start a little museum of jars, then find another container and keep on collecting!
Why is this activity great for kids?
Collecting is a universally appealing pastime for kids! Searching and selecting treasures to put in their jars also activates the senses and helps kids develop their focus and observation skills.
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By creativity, we mean the ability to both imagine original ideas or solutions to problems and actually do what needs to be done to make them happen. So, to help kids develop creativity, we parents need to nurture kids' imaginations and give them lots of chances to design, test, redesign and implement their ideas.
"Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”
Why, you ask? For one, it is through being creative that a person is able to get senses, sensibility and spirit working together. Simply put, without creativity, we don't think our kids will live a full life.
On a more practical level, it's also the means by which humans of all ages make an impact on the world and other people around them. A lot of heavy stuff is going to go down in our kids' lifetime, and their generation will need to imagine and implement solutions to big and very complicated problems. Although our kids are still far from public office or the boardroom, today's political and business leaders worldwide are already pointing to creativity as the most important leadership quality for the future.
Although years from the art studio or design lab, little kids can learn to think and act creatively if you give them time and the right practice.
Curiosity
Category:
Thinking Skills
What does it mean to develop Curiosity?
Curiosity means the ability and habit to apply a sense of wonder and a desire to learn more. Curious people try new things, ask questions, search for answers, relish new information, and make connections, all while actively experiencing and making sense of the world. To us, curiosity is a child’s ticket to engaging fully in learning and, ultimately, in life.
Why does it matter?
As a parent, this skill is, perhaps, the easiest to grasp and has the clearest connection to a young children’s learning. We all want my children to wonder, explore and drive their own learning and, better yet, to experience the world fully. Most teachers would agree that the curious children so often seem more attentive, involved and naturally get the most out of time in school. Even the research suggests that being curious is a driver of higher performance throughout one's life, as much if not more than IQ or test scores.
Focus & Self Control
Category:
Thinking Skills
What is Focus and Self Control?
We think of self control as a child’s ability to focus on something in such a way that maximizes learning. In order to do that, they first need to direct their attention and focus on a single thing. They also need to discern which information around them is most important and deserving of their attention. Thirdly, they need something called “inhibition.” Think of inhibition as the ability to control impulses, block out distractions and continue attending to the same thing. Focus, discerning and inhibition all require rather fancy brain work and are thought to be part of the “executive functions” or the set of cognitive processes involving the prefrontal cortex that help us manage ourselves and the environment to achieve a goal.
Why does it matter?
Our world is full of distractions, more today than ever. Kids who are in any learning situation need the ability to control their impulses, block out noise and attend to the person, objects, events, or discussions that are central to learning. As classroom teachers, we saw that kids who did this ruled the classroom. As outdoor educators and parents, we know the same holds true outside of school.
But don’t take our word for it; the research is impressive. It turns out that these executive function skills are closely tied to success in the classroom, higher level education and life beyond school. Experts like Adele Diamond of the University of British Columbia have shown that, “If you look at what predicts how well children will do later in school, more and more evidence is showing that executive functions—working memory and inhibition—actually predict success better than IQ tests.” Although these skills are difficult for young children and don’t crystallize until adulthood, the more kids practice them, the better at them kids become.
Age: 0 to 8+
Time: Under 1 hour
Materials: jar or other clear container
