Ojiichan's Gift

Name: Ojiichan's Gift
Author: Chieri Uegaki

A story that explores wonder and opens a conversation with your child.

★★★★★ Loved by families

Read the Guiding Questions Find this book →

♥ This book teaches: Wonder. staying curious about the world around you.

Before, During & After Reading

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Definition: to be amazed at and/or curious about something that is pleasantly unexpected, beautiful, or mysterious. In short: Curiosity sparks endless discovery.
Summary: On her visits to Japan from America, Mayumi spends time with her ojiichan (grandfather in Japanese), creating a magical traditional Japanese home garden. Years go by and when Mayumi’s grandfather has to move into a retirement home, his granddaughter creates a miniature garden in a small box and gives it as a gift to her ojiichan. Lesson Objectives:

Students realize that there are many wonderful different traditions all around the world; they become curious to explore cultures other than their own.
They also gain more respect for elderly people, especially those in their own families. They realize that grandparents are special; they may have stories and activities to share that would be fun and interesting.

Guiding questions:

What does the Japanese word “ojiichan” mean?
Find Japan on a map. Is it far away from where you live?
What does Mayumi like to do with her grandfather?
How did they clip the shrubs in ojiichan’s garden?
Why did ojiichan have to move out of his house?
Describe the gift that Mayumi made for her grandfather.
Have you ever made a gift for your grandparents? If so, what did you make? If not, what would you like to give a grandparent?
If you have grandparents, make them a gift or a card. Ask them to tell you an interesting story about their lives.
Make a tiny garden in a small box. Use gravel, rocks, something from nature like pine cones or seed pods.
Do you have any relatives who are from a country other than where you live now? If so, ask them to tell you about their country’s culture. What do their gardens look like? What kind of traditional food is prepared? What language do they speak? What do kids like to do for fun?

🌿 Virtue Connection: Wonder means staying curious about the world around you.

Activities for This Story.

Materials needed: one small box or tin per student - send a note home to ask parents to help their child bring one to school, give the dimensions so they know what size; gravel or sand, enough to fill each student’s box; stones of various sizes; pine cones, seeds, leaves and any other natural materials; spoons or something to scoop and spread the gravel; a model garden made by the teacher

Directions: Set out the materials for making the gardens and create a system by which students can access the materials when the garden making activity begins. Introduce the video by telling students it’s about wonder, beauty, and a granddaughter’s love for her grandfather. After showing the video, emphasize how the girl in the story admired her grandfather’s garden so much that she decided to make a replica of it and give it as a gift to him. Tell students that they will have a chance to make their own garden to give to someone special, a grandparent or parent, or they can keep it as a reminder of the story. Explain the process by which students will get their materials after showing them a model that you’ve created. Tell them to be creative - they don’t have to do it exactly like yours but it should resemble the traditional Japanese garden in the story.

Wrap it up: “Today you learned about traditional Japanese gardens, and you made one of your own to take home and give as a gift or keep. Before we leave, I will give you a chance to walk around the room and see what everyone made. I hope you can be curious about the many different cultures in our world, and learn about how they do things, like make a garden, cook a meal, play games. We have so much to learn about each other!”

About the Story.

This guide is part of the Values & Virtues library, a free collection of 400+ book guides and activities organized around 12 core virtues for children from pre-K to 6th grade. Each guide includes Guiding Questions designed to open a real conversation with your child in 10 minutes or less.

Read-aloud video · Best with headphones

Find this book at your library or bookstore →

Guiding Questions

Students realize that there are many wonderful different traditions all around the world; they become curious to explore cultures other than their own.
They also gain more respect for elderly people, especially those in their own families. They realize that grandparents are special; they may have stories and activities to share that would be fun and interesting.

Guiding questions:

What does the Japanese word “ojiichan” mean?
Find Japan on a map. Is it far away from where you live?
What does Mayumi like to do with her grandfather?
How did they clip the shrubs in ojiichan’s garden?
Why did ojiichan have to move out of his house?
Describe the gift that Mayumi made for her grandfather.
Have you ever made a gift for your grandparents? If so, what did you make? If not, what would you like to give a grandparent?
If you have grandparents, make them a gift or a card. Ask them to tell you an interesting story about their lives.
Make a tiny garden in a small box. Use gravel, rocks, something from nature like pine cones or seed pods.
Do you have any relatives who are from a country other than where you live now? If so, ask them to tell you about their country’s culture. What do their gardens look like? What kind of traditional food is prepared? What language do they speak? What do kids like to do for fun?

valuesandvirtues.org · Made possible by our supporters

Ojiichan's Gift

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Activities for This Story.

About the Story.

More Wonder guides.

A River

Butterfly House

Every Color

Everything Is Connected

Explore more guides for 1st & 2nd Grade.

Ojiichan's Gift

Guiding Questions