Collection of indoor play ideas for September! Autumn recreational activities that will captivate children

Playing with colored water using autumn plants

*Nature and Handcrafts* Playing with colored water using American pokeweed and Asiatic dayflower

How about playing with colored water made from autumn plants? Colored water play is an activity where you use water dyed by extracting color from plants and the like.

Try making colored water using autumn flowers blooming around daycare centers, kindergartens, or your home.

You can set up a pretend juice stand with the colored water, or mix different colors to create new shades.

If you extract the color more intensely, it can even be used as a painting medium.

When playing the pretend juice stand, it looks beautiful to float the same flowers used to make each colored water on top.

Enjoy playing while feeling the unique plants and hues of autumn, different from other seasons.

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Quiz Kamishibai: What Is the Harvest Moon (Jūgoya)?

Retro Nabe Quiz Kamishibai: “What Is the Harvest Moon?” — Kamishibai Series (6)

Speaking of quizzes, they’re one of children’s favorite activities, and turning them into a kamishibai-style presentation like in this video might make them even more engaging and enjoyable.

Including illustrations helps make the information easier to understand and remember.

Another advantage of creating a kamishibai is that you can deliver it in many places repeatedly with the same level of quality.

Why not try this kamishibai quiz format—mixing in quiz questions here and there while sharing knowledge?

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Making moon-viewing dumplings

How to Make Tsukimi Dango | Tsukimi – Moon Viewing –

Around the 15th day of the 8th month in the old lunar calendar—roughly around September 15 today—is called the Harvest Moon (Juugoya).

It’s a day when the moon shines bright and beautiful.

To give thanks for the autumn harvest, people began offering seasonal produce and round rice cakes shaped like the moon.

Please try making rice cakes together! The nice part is that you can eat the offerings afterward.

Let’s make them delicious!

Making cosmos flowers with a sponge

[Craft Activity] Wall Mural Cosmos Made by Dabbing Color with a Sponge

Let’s try painting cosmos flowers, which are at their best in autumn, using a sponge! Prepare a piece of thick paper with a cosmos shape cut out, then dab paint onto a sponge and stamp it into the cut-out area to add color—your cosmos will take shape! For the yellow center, you can also apply color with a sponge or use round stickers.

Another recommended method is to cut a sponge into thin strips and use them to make individual petals, building up the cosmos flower.

Try painting these beautiful autumn flowers in whatever style you like!

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Footprint Rabbit

How about using your child’s footprints to create a rabbit that’s perfect for the Moon Viewing Festival? Stamp the foot so the toes end up where the rabbit’s rump would be, then add parts like the ears and hands afterward with paint.

It’s also fun to create each part with finger stamps! Draw the eyes and mouth to complete the rabbit.

If you add a moon and tsukimi dango around it, it will look just right for the festival.

While enjoying the moon viewing, take a look at this footprint art and feel how much your child has grown.

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[Hand Play] Moon-Viewing Pattan

[September October Autumn Moon-Viewing Hand Play] Otsukimi Pettan 〈Must Read〉 Tips and variations for using it in childcare are listed in the description below. Lyrics/Music: Boku to Kimi.

Let me introduce “Otsukimi Pettan,” a perfect hand-play song for autumn! The lyrics depict a rabbit living on the moon pounding mochi, making it a great way for children to enjoy moon-viewing even more.

Pretend to be the rabbit and clap both hands with a pitter-patter, then munch on the finished mochi! The trick is to make the movements as exaggerated as possible.

You can also adapt it to the children’s age—speed up the tempo during the mochi-pounding part, or pretend to use chopsticks when eating the mochi—to make it even more fun.

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Hand play “Jūgoya-san no Mochitsuki”

“Jūgoya-san’s Mochi Pounding (with gestures) – ‘Jūgoya-san no Mochitsuki wa…’ [Japanese Song / Shōka]”

Speaking of the September harvest moon (Jugoya), it’s famous for looking like a rabbit pounding mochi on the moon.

Here’s a perfect hand game for Jugoya with a mochi-pounding theme.

Pair up: one person claps steadily up and down, while the other adds interjections on the off-beats.

It’s like playing the role of the catcher during mochi pounding.

Speeding up the tempo makes it more challenging and even more fun.

It also works well as a rhythm-training activity for children.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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[Dance] We Are Grapes

[Dance/Childcare] We Are Grapes / Tsubasa Suzuki & Sho Fukuda [Exercise/Kindergarten/Toddlers/Infants/Fruit/Autumn/Parenting/Children’s Songs]

When you think of delicious autumn fruits, many people probably think of grapes.

Round and sweet, grapes are a favorite among children too.

Let’s pretend to be grapes and dance to “We Are Grapes.” Make big circles with your hands and sway gently, or wiggle your hips while saying “bu-bu-bu.” The choreography and melody are easy for children to pick up, so they’ll learn it quickly.

If you’re a teacher looking for a fun dance that captures the feeling of autumn, be sure to give this a try.

Moon-viewing fun!

Moon-Viewing Play for Ages 0–5!

It’s one of the five seasonal festivals, but these days people don’t really celebrate with the festival in mind anymore, do they? For children around kindergarten senior age, how about making dango and little bunnies out of paper clay together? In mythology, rabbits are said to live on the moon, so I think playing with paper clay while talking about that would be a lot of fun.

Experiencing “mochi pounding,” which the rabbit is said to do on the moon, would also make a great memory.

You can pound away—thump, thump—using a mallet made from cardboard on bags shaped to look like mochi.

It sounds like it would make for a delightful autumn event!

Introducing moon-viewing with a paper puppet show

Explained with a paper puppet show! What is the Moon Viewing Festival?

September is the time of year when the moon looks the most beautiful.

There has long been a custom of moon viewing in September, but what exactly is moon viewing? Let’s use a paper puppet show to help children learn about it.

A paper puppet show (peep-show style) is like a paper-based puppet theater where you attach a handle stick to a drawing and use it to tell a story.

Make pieces like the moon and rabbits, and clearly explain what people do during moon viewing and a bit of its simple history.

Then, on the night of the Harvest Moon, enjoy moon viewing together with that story in mind.

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