From a CANVAS Facebook post

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[A Museum Just for Kids in Daikanyama]

On Saturday, June 20, we held the “Kids-Only Museum in Daikanyama”!

At the children-only museum, a wide variety of materials and tools are provided. Which ones to use, how to use them, and what to make—it’s a space where children are free to think, choose, and create on their own.
Sometimes materials become tools, and tools become materials… leading to the creation of shapes you’d never expect.

In this museum session, we focused on getting to know and observing the materials closely before we started creating.
First, we used our “eyes” to take a really close look at what was available.
Things we’d seen before, things we were seeing for the first time, shapes, colors…
there are so many things we can learn just by looking.
After looking closely, we moved on to touching the materials.
We touched them carefully and played a “Smoothness Hunt,” searching among the many materials for the one we thought felt the “smoothest.” Some children even took the time to touch the tools as well as the
materials!
Everyone discovered their own unique kinds of smoothness.
One child discovered that a single sheet of paper was smooth on one side and rough on the other.
Another child found that a certain part of a piece of cellophane tape was smooth.
There was the smoothness of a paper plate, the smoothness of a straw… Some children liked
the smooth textures they found so much that they used them as materials afterward.

In the elementary school class, many of the kids were so eager to get started that we jumped right into the crafting time.
This time, I noticed that the children were taking their time to carefully craft each piece.
For nearly an hour, they layered various colors on paper cups; upon closer inspection, some pieces revealed intricate details and were truly beautiful, while others seemed to be filled with stories. There were even children who came up with ways to play with what they had made.

At the museum, some children create while chatting happily, others work quietly on their own, and sometimes a child will zone out for a moment before picking up their project again… Each child spends their time creating at their own pace.
We’ll continue to welcome you every month to this space where you can come whenever you feel like creating!
http://www.canvas.ws/kenkyujo/daikanyama_m/index.html