No.61
Newspaper Letter Hunt
Japanese name: 新聞文字探し
Materials
- Newspapers, community newsletters or flyers
- Writing tools
- A magnifying glass (optional)
How to play
- Give one newspaper, newsletter or flyer page to each player or group. Show the target character or letter at a large size and examine its shape.
- For example, search for the Japanese character “あ” for 1 minute, circling each occurrence once. Agree beforehand whether advertisements count.
- Stop writing on the signal and compare finds with a neighbor. If a different character was circled, compare the shapes and correct it together.
- If groups have different pages, record personal discoveries rather than comparing competitive totals. Change the target or searcher and repeat.
- End after 2–3 rounds. You may share an interesting headline or a hard-to-find character.
Ways to adapt
Preschool children: match large printed shapes on flyers. Younger primary school children: look for hiragana. Older primary school children: look for shared kanji radicals.