Surfing around this morning over coffee and bagels I came across an article about the recent resurgence in popularity, both in Japan and abroad, of a children’s craft/art called dorodango. Basically, these are mud balls. But, there’s an art to making them and a wide range of qualities and effects can be achieved given the skill of the dorodango maker and the type of mud used in their production.
Professor Fumio Kayo of the Kyoto University of Education has studied this activity as it is an ideal prototype of child’s play. He has found that children become very involved in the activity and take a great deal of pride and care in the creation of their dorodango. This link to an article describes his study and his simple method of creation.
The creation of these objects requires patience and care, but is simple enough for a child to learn. To complete a dorodango takes a number of days and a couple of different stages of production.
A quick flickr search shows that reach of this activity.
