Report: Inquiry-Based Activities with the Theme of “Sound”

At GG International School, we implement educational programs that cherish children’s natural curiosity and inquisitive minds, encouraging their feelings of “Why?”, “I wonder…”, and “I want to try more!”
Our school is currently participating in the “Tokyo Sukuwaku Program,” a support project promoted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and we have been implementing inquiry-based activities with our students.

🌟What is the “Tokyo Sukuwaku Program”?

This is a project by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government aimed at enhancing early childhood education and care. It supports kindergartens, nursery schools, and other childcare facilities in conducting inquiry-based activities tailored to children’s interests. The program encourages facilities to go beyond traditional boundaries, utilizing their unique environments and strengths to explore a theme of their choice.

Reference: About the “Tokyo Sukuwaku Program” (Tokyo Metropolitan Government Official Website)

🎵 Our Theme is “Sound”! A Look at Our Inquiry-Based Activities

At our school, we implemented the Sukuwaku Program focusing on the theme of “Sound.” We prepared various instruments and tools—including a piano, drums, percussion instruments, bells, and a play parachute. The children engaged in activities that allowed them to visually and physically experience “sound” with their whole bodies. This included freely touching the instruments to compare different sounds and moving dynamically together with the parachute in time with the music.

<How the Children Engaged in the Activities>

• Exploration through Trial and Error Using musical tubes (Boomwhackers), where different lengths produce different pitches, the children noticed things like, “The longer one makes a lower sound!” and “It sounds different when I hit the floor compared to the wall!” We saw them actively experimenting with different lengths and striking surfaces to test the differences in sound.
• Collaborating with Friends Using the parachute, the children communicated with each other, saying things like, “Let’s shake it faster!” in response to the tempo and dynamics of the music, working together to express the waves of sound as a group.

*Activity reports are only available in Japanese.