From a CANVAS Facebook post

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[Kids Creative Research Institute at Meiji University]

On Sunday, May 10, we held the Kids Creative Lab at Meiji University!

The theme this time is “Power Generation”!
We made items that generate electricity from light and produce sounds—and by the way the
sounds change, we can tell whether the light is strong or weak. We took
these power-generating items with us on an expedition to search for light.

First, I asked the children, “What is light, anyway? Where can you find it?
” One child pointed to the fluorescent lights on the
ceiling and said, “That!” Another said it was something
bright. Yet another said, “The TV
at home!” There sure is light in
all sorts of places, isn’t there?

After
doing some experiments with electricity, I moved on to making power-generating items.

I’d like to share a story about a child in the
preschool class that really touched me while we were making crafts. There was a child who was having trouble cutting
the clear tape, so a staff member was helping them. Apparently, another child in the same group showed them the trick, saying, “This is how you do it.”

From there, the child started trying on their own, and after a few attempts, they managed to cut the tape all by themselves—with a big smile and a shout of “I did it!!!”
After that, the child got the hang of it and gradually became able to do it on their own.
It was a moment that felt like such a small thing, yet at the same time, something so big and important.

Once they had their light-making items, they set off on an expedition outside to search for light!
Among the elementary school students, some held their items up to every kind of light and carefully listened to the sounds it made.
They were using both their eyes and ears to find where the light was coming from.