Our Kindergarten seniors at AMICUS have been diving into their “Food” theme and discovering all kinds of interesting things along the way!

Recently, they’ve been keeping a close eye on the little green shikuwasa fruits growing right here on campus! Watching them grow bigger day by day, the kids’ eyes lit up with curiosity: “I wonder what they taste like??”

To find out more, we headed to Shikuwasa Park in Ogimi Village for a fun field trip!

At Shikuwasa Park, the children learned all about how shikuwasa grows and what makes this little Okinawan citrus fruit so special. They even got to take a peek inside the juice factory and see how the juice was made! There was so much to discover!

And of course, one of the highlights of the trip was… the shikuwasa juice taste test! 

The kids got to compare juice made from green shikuwasa harvested in September with juice made from orange shikuwasa harvested in December. The colors were different, and so were the flavors!

“Sooo sour!!” 😆
Some of the kids couldn’t help scrunching up their faces after taking a sip!

They also learned that green shikuwasa, which is in season around September, is rich in a nutrient called nobiletin. By December, as the fruit ripens and turns orange, the amount of nobiletin decreases, but the fruit becomes sweeter! It was a fun, hands-on way to discover how shikuwasa changes with the seasons.

The adventure didn’t end there!

Back at AMICUS, the children rolled up their sleeves and got busy making shikuwasa muffins using fruit harvested from the trees right here on campus!

“I can’t believe shikuwasa can turn into such a tasty treat!” The children were amazed to see how a familiar fruit could be turned into something so yummy!♪

Through these fun experiences, from the field trip to baking their own muffins, shikuwasa has become an even more familiar fruit to the children. Along the way, they made lots of new discoveries and found even more reasons to ask, “What else can we learn?”

Although our first-term theme study has come to an end, the children’s shikuwasa research is far from over! Their discovery journey will continue all the way through December!

What exciting secrets will they uncover next? Stay tuned! ✨