Here’s our report from an event held on Friday, January 23, at Gardens Hall on the 4th floor of Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens! It was hosted by the NPO a little, with the theme of helping families with small children enjoy learning about disaster preparedness😌
At the entrance, there were firefighter uniforms that kids could try on🧑🚒 The handmade fire truck photo booth was adorable🚒
Since the event was close to January 17, there was also a photo exhibition about the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.
Stamp rally sheet
Once we went inside,
it was already bustling with lots of people from the 10:30 opening
The opening program was a disaster preparedness exercise performed by children👦🏻👧🏻 They must have practiced a lot! It was so cute🥰
The program continued at 11:00 with baby eurhythmics by Music School Plumeria👶🏻 They usually use lots of ukuleles and do lively Hawaiian eurhythmics, but since this was a disaster preparedness event, the activity was designed around the idea of being in a quiet place such as an evacuation shelter. Parents and children enjoyed gentle, quiet movements together〜
12:00〜 Handbell performance🎶
13:30〜 Live picture book reading📚
14:30〜 Let’s dance the disaster preparedness exercise together
15:00〜 Mini forum
In addition to the program, there were plenty of other booths for parents and children to enjoy!
There was a kids’ space too🐼 My daughter, who isn’t quite 1 year old yet, seemed happy watching the older kids who came over here🥰
They were also serving minestrone-style risotto as emergency meal distribution😋 A delicious smell filled the venue〜
Finally
This time, they invited a speaker from Ishinomaki City, an area affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and held a session to learn about disaster preparedness by listening to their firsthand experiences from that time. According to Sakaguchi from the organizer, NPO a little, “By bringing together child-rearing support groups for workshops, we wanted not only to help create connections with people raising children and connections among child-rearing support groups, but also to create an opportunity for these groups to think about disaster preparedness as part of their regular activities.”😌 It was a great opportunity for even small children to learn in an easy-to-understand and enjoyable way about natural disasters, which can happen anytime, without warning🙆♀️
Little House, operated by a little, is a cafe just a short walk from Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens where people can relax with their children.
Here it is on the map↓