Origami in the Garden

Summer School 2021

It seemed like the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics would never get here, and now they’ve already come and gone. Here’s a look back at our Japan-themed summer school.

We visited Origami in the Garden at the Missouri Botanical several times over the summer. The large-scale art installation was the perfect field trip to coincide with Tokyo 2020 (and was also postponed from last summer).

We also visited the Olympic Spectacular in St. Louis at Francis Field, home of the 1904 Summer Games:

I made a few fun treats for the Olympics…Olympics torches (white chocolate covered pretzels) and Team USA CHEERios treats.

We did a lot of cooking and tried a lot of Japanese foods. I worked really hard to find things we hadn’t had before, and used a variety of cooking methods and unfamiliar ingredients. We tried:

  • Spicy Ramen/Udon
  • Pork Gyoza
  • Coffee Jelly
  • Okonomiyaki
  • Matcha Mochi Cake
  • Vegetable Tempura
  • Potato Korokke
  • Fluffy Japanese Cheesecake
  • Kani Cream Korokke
  • Chicken Katsu Sandwich
  • Matcha Green Tea Cookies
  • Oyakodon

We were supposed to go out to a Japanese restaurant this summer, but COVID-19, so we got a party platter of sushi instead:

I’ve been holding on to the Lego Architecture Tokyo skyline since last year, and we finally got to build it!

Our American Girl dolls got into the Olympic spirit:

In between watching as much of the Olympics as we could, we also did some more traditional school work. We learned about Japanese history and culture, as well as the history of the Olympics. We read a lot of books…some I read out loud, and some were book basket choices. We also watched a selection of Olympic documentaries:

  • First—London 2012
  • The Everlasting Flame—Beijing 2008
  • Atlanta’s Olympic Glory—Atlanta 1996
  • 16 Days of Glory—Los Angeles 1984
  • Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory
  • Seoul 1988

And we also did several crafts, including origami, paper lanterns, Koinobori (Japanese carp windsocks), pipe cleaner and tissue paper cherry blossom branches, and medals (of course!):

I’ve been holding on to Ticket to Ride: Japan since last year, and we finally had a chance to play! I really enjoyed the new game mechanics introduced in this edition, and it was fun to get to know the geography of the area a little bit better.

We updated our medal chart every evening…here’s a look at the final results…we were very excited that the US won the gold medal race and had the most medals overall!

And, better late than never, our Family Olympics, which was delayed due to heat. We only had four events this year (frisbee throw, broad jump, soccer kicks, and a running race), thanks to time constraints and a lack of basketball hoops on the backboards we normally use. Technically, Turkey came in first, but since we participate as a family, we all won gold!

This summer school was a long time coming. I think we all still have mixed feelings about the fact that the Olympics were held at this time, but we had to just accept that that was out of our control, and embrace the Olympics as we usually do. It’s always hard to say goodbye when they extinguish the flame, but the Winter Olympics are less than six months away, and we only have to wait three more years for Paris 2024!

Origami After Hours After Dark

Last night, we went back to Origami After Hours at the Missouri Botanical Garden, but this time, we arrived later, so we could see the art as it really got dark out. These are my favorite pieces to see as the sun goes down, because they’re lit really well and in beautiful places:

I wish the garden was open for just 30 minutes to an hour longer during Origami After Hours, so you could see the sculptures as it gets even darker (a challenge in summer when the sunset is so late to be sure!), because I think they’d be even more stunning!

Origami After Hours

On Thursday and Friday evenings this summer, the Missouri Botanical Garden is hosting an Origami in the Garden “Origami After Hours” event, which includes the large-scale art installation plus live music on their patio as well as a bar.

Let’s start with my two favorite pictures from the event…I loved seeing the art in a different light!

In addition to seeing the pieces in a different light, I also got to photograph many of them from different angles. We got to look at every piece other than the two in the Climatron (I don’t think seeing them after the sun starts going down would be too terribly different since they’re indoors).

I love any excuse to visit the Garden in the evening, and when there’s a special art installation, it’s even more fun! Hopefully we’ll have a chance to go back, and stay as it gets darker, because there are colored lights focused on the pieces, and I’d love to see them lit up in the night!

More Origami in the Garden

When we visited the Climatron at the Missouri Botanical Garden last weekend, we saw the two pieces from the “Origami in the Garden” exhibition we missed during our previous visit:

We may have seen all of the sculptures now, but there’s still one I haven’t photographed successfully…hopefully I’ll getting a better picture of it this summer, maybe even during one of the “Origami After Hours” evening events!

2020-21 School Year–Week Thirty

Hymn of the Week–“Jesus Christ is Risen Today” (Lutheran Service Book #457)

We actually went somewhere and did something! On Sunday, we visited Origami in the Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It’s a really cool exhibition, and we’re already looking forward to going back…it definitely fits in with our postponed-from-last-year Japan-themed summer school!

As for school…things are starting to wrap up. Turkey and Bunny finished the second-to-last chapter in their calculus text. They made it through the last chapter in their study of psychology. They’re still working on finishing up 1984. We started a chapter on the respiratory system in advanced biology.

Ladybug (and Moose, by coincidence), learned the Pythagorean Theorem in algebra. I think this is the first time all school year that their lessons actually lined up! She learned about electricity in science, and we got to make an electroscope that actually worked! She finished reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer…I gave her a few options of books she can read to finish out the school year since her official literature studies are done.

Chickadee worked on drawing lines of symmetry in math. She learned about antonyms in grammar. In science, she read about wasps and termites. We finished reading The Boxcar Children. She and Ladybug learned about conflicts between Iran and Iraq as well as between India and Pakistan in history.

I finally did the math, and now I know we only have four weeks of school left to go!

Chickadee Thursday

Chickadee really enjoyed the Origami in the Garden exhibition at the Missouri Botanical Garden…she especially liked these buffalo!

She also enjoyed sketching some of the installations:

I think we’re all looking forward to visiting the Garden and this exhibition again!

Origami in the Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden just opened a really cool exhibition…one that I’ve been anxiously awaiting since they had to postpone it due to COVID-19 last year…Origami in the Garden!

There are 18 large-scale sculptures around the garden, and we saw most of them this weekend:

They also have a really cool display in the Visitors’ Center which shows a few pieces on a much smaller scale, and also what a piece of paper that was folded into those shapes would look like upon being unfolded:

I’m looking forward to visiting this exhibition again (it goes perfectly with this year’s Japanese-themed summer school!), and catching the few pieces we missed the first time through!