HALLOWEEN PARTY FUN FUN FUN! 楽しかったよ！

At today's Halloween Party, we had pumpkins, fairies, princesses, ballerinas, bats, cats, pirates and dragons - not a bad mix for a bunch of little kids, eh?! But they were all SOOOO cute. Thanks to the Mums and Grannies who have been sewing these past few days to make such lovely costumes.When you see the photos, you'll se it was worth all the effort.

What fun it was to dress up and play party games and sing and dance and then feast like kings. Our snacktime today was transformed into a real banquet. Thank you so much to everyone who brought such yummy treats to the party. Next week it's back to the usual せんべい　and apple, OK?!

We also welcomed a new Playgroup Mum, Mizue and little Motori. We hope you'll come back next week.

Maybe we'll see you again in Komaba 4 chome, where there is a Halloween Trick or Treat event on Saturday night.

See you soon またね。。。

Scarecrows and Caterpillars....

The wonderful display of scary scarecrows （かかし）lined up in the rice field of Komabano Koen inspired today's Playgroup theme. Who ever thought that Anpanman could be made look so fierce and used to ward off big bad crows! But colourful and fancy and all as those stuffed specimens are, they wouldn't have lasted our action-packed session this morning. How many times did we sing and dance to 'Dingle Dangle Scarecrow'? How many encores?? How many 'again's?? How many もいいかいs ?? We definitely earned our cups of tea afterwards!

Much to everyone's surprise, Kimiko san made it to PG today. Although it was great to see her in such great form, we all dearly hope that you will NOT be here for the next class and that you will be granted your wish of midnight labour! We're all thinking of you during this final countdown!

I think all the kids had already heard our story 'A Very Hungry Caterpillar'. This was a special request by Ricky. Any other special requests for storytime? Just ask!

And finally, there remains a mere 36 hours before the much anticipated Halloween Party. My five monkeys are getting SO excited now - just two more sleeps! We have games and treats galore and hope you all remember to bring some snacks to add to the party buffet.

See you soon...

Pumpkins, i-pods and playgroup!

Playgroup has gone 'hi-tech'!! I have a new i-pod and am very happy to no longer have to fight with my aging CD collection. I have been assured that i-pods are very easy to use. But I must confess that I am a bit of a technophobe and am capable of breaking anything electrical/technical/computer-related, simply by looking at it. Luckily today, Ushiki san (our 3rd Playgroup Dad to visit!) saved me from utter embarrassment and "synchronised" the i-pod with the computer and so we could all dance and prance about as usual:)

A very big Welcome to Asako Suzuki and Koki-kun who came today. We hope you'll be back next week:)

Today's 'Five Little Pumpkins' poem shows how yet again, I am inclined to pick songs or poems that even vaguely refer to my own 'five little monsters', but today's poem was cute, was it not?? (For our new members, I should warn you that I will at some stage teach the song 'Five little ducks' and also 'Five little monkeys'...:)

Not for the first time today, we saw the Playgroup Mums have been hiding their artistic talents, as there were some very impressive Pumpkin-collages produced by the end of the session. (see the photos for October 2009!)

I hope to see you all next week for Moonday (regular Playgroup session, with the theme of SCARECROWS) and of course on Wednesday, our much anticipated FANCY DRESS HALLOWEEN PARTY. Don't forget your kids costume and also to bring something for the 'party buffet' -savoury or sweet. なんでもいいね：）

またね

Halloween Craft Day - silly spiders & very cool bats!

Our first Halloween craft day brought out the 'artist' in everyone. The once scary-long-legged black spiders were transformed into rainbow coloured cuties with multi-coloured eyes. And as for the bats? Batman has found some new rivals for the title of 'World's Coolest Bat'. Setsuko san should get a medal for her felt-winged-wonder!

In spite of all our Mums and Dads being utterly immersed in their crafts, we did manage to learn a funny new Halloween-themes song. Three black cats..... I still don't know how to explain or translate the word 'hullabaloo' so if anyone has a suggestion, please feel free to post a comment on the blog!

A very big 'Welcome back' to Abel, Maya and Naume who returned to Playgroup this morning after a long summer holiday. We missed you!

And finally, we will all be thinking about Kimiko over the next few days as she eagerly awaits to birth of Jyoji's newest sibling, any day now.....

See you soon:)

Bonjour!

Today's Playgroup session was our first 'French' class. Isn't it amazing how quickly the kids start to chant along to the songs. They weren't a bit bothered by the fact it was an entirely new language!

It was great to welcome Kimiko san, her Mum and little Jyoji. Setsuko san is our first official Grandma of our new Playgroup. We hope to see you all back next week.

A very big Merci to Yukako san whose lovely rendition of Basu wo Notte had all of us laughing and all the kids asking for more, Encore, Again, Mo Iikai! We'll have to get you to teach it to us again.... And to Teresa for the Korean song.

And finally, I hope you are all preparing your kids costumes for the Halloween Party on Wednesday 28th October. Anyone who usually comes on Monday, please feel free to come to the party too! It should be lots of fun.

Don't forget your kids photos for the Birthday Train.....

Au revoir et a bientot!

Teddy Bear Teddy Bear...

When is this rain ever going to stop?? Many thanks to those of you who braved the downpour this morning to come to our very special 'Teddy Bear' Playgroup session.

Today we had 2 special guests. Billy the Bear, our newest game! and of course Cookie Monster, who joined the kids for snacktime and sang along to his own theme song. The kids were in great spirits as they danced and sang and we even learned a new Teddy bear 'poem':)

In the Springtime (or whenever the weather gets a little better!) we can have a real Teddy Bear's picnic. We'll go to the park, bring your favourite teddy and we'll have a picnic in the woods. We might even bring along Cookie Monster.

Our special guest Cookie Monster assures me he had a great time in spite of the rain, though wanted to know why there were no cookies today!

For next week, please remember to bring your kids' photos for the Birthday Train'.

Also please check that you have signed a 'Disclaimer' form.

And Member registration continues! Anyone who hasn't signed up yet, please do so soon.

Any questions, please drop by the house or send me an email.

See you soon!

Tea and Cookies :)

It might have been a dull Monday morning, but everyone seemed in great spirits as we danced about to 'I'm a little teapot' and the group favourite 'jump jump jump' which left all the mammies exhausted and in need of our cup of tea. I hope you liked the cookies! I meant to show the kids this funny song from Sesame Street. Click on the link for the 'Cookie Monster' song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye8mB6VsUHw

Thanks to Ricky for his lovely rendition of the 'Monday Tuesday....' song. And to Naoko for the 'ton ton ton Anpanman' song. Daniel was still singing that this evening at dinner.

Our story today was written by the Japanese Princess Takamado. It's called 'Katie and the Dream Eater'. And although I think all the mums appreciated the wonderful illustrations of the baku, I don't think the kids were terribly interested. Perhaps we'll have to re-think 'Story Time'? Any ideas what else we can do during this time?!

And finally, a very big Welcome to Kumiko san and Hajime kun who started today. We hope to see you back again next week:)

Please check the 'Class Schedule' section on this blog for updates and a sneak preview to this month's class topics and events. You still have lots of time to think of costumes for Halloween!

See you soon.