Our afternoon reading with the kids today was out on the trampoline. It was so perfect. Eli and Hannah have taken on playing the roles of Jack (big brother with glasses) and Annie (care-free sister) and like to act out some of the scenes. It's quite cute! =)
Here are our follow-up activities: (they were mostly discussion type instead of hands-on things this time)
1. Find Japan on the world map and globe.
2. Talk about Ninja clothing (also called shinobi shozoko)
CLOTHING COLOR
* Black or dark blue clothing was for dangerous night missions so they could remain hidden.
* What color do you think they'd wear for winter missions so they could blend in with the snow? white
* They wore a green kind of camouflage pattern when they need to blend in with the forest surroundings.
* In what situations do people wear camouflage clothing here today? We talked about and looked at pictures of soldiers and hunters.
OTHER DETAILS
* Clothing covered all of their skin. And had many pockets all throughout it, inside and out. What do you think they put in all of their pockets? Storing small tools and weapons. And a small first aid kit in case they came across animal bite or poison.
* Tabi boots had a slit between the big toe and second to make it easier for climbing ropes and scaling walls.
3. I never really could find much to watch or do about Ninja moves but maybe you'd have better luck?
4. Nature discussion regarding the rules from the book:
* Use nature -- Jack and Annie used the moonlight and shadow from a stick to find which direction was east -- We can use the sun and shadows to find direction or time. We can also use nature to build shelter or raft or tools.
* Be nature -- Jack and Annie became still as rocks to hide from the Samurai warriors towering right over them. -- When we confront dangerous animals we can remain still as a rock or become big like a bear to protect ourselves.
* Follow nature -- Jack and Annie followed their mouse friend across the stream to get where they needed to go. -- When lost you can follow a stream as a guide to a nearby town.
5. Project: Try out the shadow stick method to find direction.
* Find a very straight stick and stand it up in the ground on a flat area.
* Mark the tip of its shadow with a rock.
* Wait at least 15 minutes (we waited 30 for bigger results) and mark the new shadow tip.
* The first shadow mark is west and the second shadow mark is east. You can then figure out north and south.
6. {Faith Connections} Ninja master: a mysterious wise person who knew many secrets of nature. They had meetings in hidden caves.
* Who is our great ninja master? God. He is mysterious, we don't know everything about Him, He is so great we can't comprehend everything. He is wise and he knows everything about everyone and he knows everything about nature because He created it.
* Where can we go to meet Him? Anywhere because God is everywhere. Although in other parts of the world where people are still not allowed to worship God or go to church, Christians will have secret meetings in caves or basements or homes in order to worship God in secret.
As you can see, we are very serious about our studies around here... =)
HAPPY SUMMER!
