Did you know there’s a seriously fun class on the 5th floor of Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens Gate Building?
“Huh? What kind of class is it?” Actually, this place isn’t just somewhere kids can play to their heart’s content after school; it’s also packed with learning. It’s full of secrets that get kids completely hooked!
It’s right here in the Gate Building, directly connected to Gardens from Nishinomiya-kitaguchi Station.
Take the elevator up to the 5th floor, and…
an unexpectedly exciting space opens up in front of you!
Actually, on this 5th floor, there’s a classroom called “STEAM Campus,” where play and learning come together.
Oh! Isn’t that LEGO?~~
The person showing us around was “Mariko-sensei.” First, she showed us this:
a scene that looked like a park made of LEGO!
It gets your imagination going: “There’s a tree, so maybe a giraffe? No, there’s a pond, so maybe a duck?” Okay, then let’s actually make a duck.
The time limit is 1 minute! Everyone starts building their own LEGO creation, and then…
Ready, set… go!
Everyone finished a different duck
That’s the appeal of “thinking × making.” Everyone naturally gets their brain working at full speed, thinking, “How can I make it look more like a duck?”
And it’s seriously fun.
On top of that, they also practice putting their ideas into words by answering questions like “Why did you think that?” and “What did you come up with?” So kids develop creativity and thinking skills × expressive ability all at the same time!
At STEAM Campus, kids also get hands-on with gears and parts, building things and making them move, or dropping objects from above to experiment, so they can experience things from a science-based perspective too. There are lots of chances to wonder “Why does that happen?” while playing, so they end up totally absorbed. There’s also a course where kids can learn programming.
They even hold exhibitions during summer vacation, where everyone shares those “Wow!” moments together. Isn’t it wonderful to have a classroom where the culture is about praising one another instead of competing and ranking who’s better?
Trial lessons are available for children from the first year of preschool through 5th grade. Through playful activities that follow the flow of “think → make → explain,” the program helps kids grow into children who can keep coming up with ideas on their own. Shachomi’s duck creation might be there too, so go take a look.
A Science Lab where the “why?” never stops!
Now then, on the 5th floor there’s another classroom that seriously sparks children’s creativity.
It’s called “Science Lab”!
It’s a full-fledged experiment class open to kids from the second year of preschool through 12th grade, where they actually wear lab coats and use all kinds of lab equipment!
When they use beakers and flasks to mix chemicals, bubbles foam up with a whoosh, smoke billows out, and more. (It’s way more powerful than you’d imagine!
“Whoa! Why does that happen?” The questions just keep coming!
For example, around 3rd grade, they do things like experiments that generate gas. When you stick incense into a container filled with bubbles, a flame bursts out with a pop. It really surprises you.
You can just picture the look of surprise on the kids’ faces: “Whaaaat!”
