Play Fundama

During a recent tour, Flow Circus had the opportunity to conduct Fundama workshops for several groups of librarians in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. We introduced the groups to the Japanese kendama and various related toys from South America, Europe, and North America.

After having a chance to play with the kendama, the librarians got creative making different versions of Fundama and in some cases inventing their own style! At the end of the session, we brainstormed different ways they might be able to incorporate Fundama into their programs or different populations that might enjoy making & playing Fundama. Below is a list of their ideas.

Alternate Materials:

• Different colors of masking tape
• Duct tape
• Cover the cups with small ripped up pieces of masking tape and then apply shoe polish. The polish gathers at the textured edges creating cool texture.

Populations:

• Tweens & Teens
• Afterschool groups
• Home school groups
• Special needs populations
• Tween/teen volunteer groups (they can help younger groups with the taping and cutting or oversee a passive programming station)
• Family or Parent/Child Programs or as one library called it: Playful Parenting

Program Ideas:

• Toy Club: Each week read a book from a different region and introduce the version of the toy from that region
• Inventor’s Series: read a book about an inventor and then have group make their own
• Vacation Day Craft
• Cinco de Mayo activity
• Teen Challenge: create different competitions for teens based on time, skill, or creativity
• Overnight/Lock-in Activity: make the fundama early in the event and then have competitions scheduled throughout the night
• Staff In-Service Activity
• Six: Use as a method for selecting items from prize shelf
• Design competitions

We will be conducting more workshops in March and April so look for more ideas to be posted next month. Feel free to add your own ideas and success stories about Fundama on the Programming Ideas page. To see more pictures from our workshops visit our Flow Circus Photo Gallery.