学校の図書館では「世界記録の本」が途切れなく借りられています。世界記録にあこがれを持っている子は多いと考え、実際に挑戦できる機会として実施しました。小学校1年生から5年生までの総勢7名が挑戦しました。

　Pocketに入ると、入口の柱に大きな手を発見！見上げると顔が！「世界で一番背が高い人の身長」と、その人の「世界で一番大きな手」が再現されていました。柱に背中を合わせて自分の背と比較したり、自分の手の大きさも測ったりして、「こんなに身長高いん・・・？」「自分の足よりこの人の手のほうが大きい」と驚きを持って実感することができました。

　今回挑戦する世界記録は4種目。どれも帰ってから家でも挑戦できる種目を用意しました。

　1種目目は「コーヒー豆を箸で1分間でコップに移した個数」を競います。世界記録は48個。「これなら俺でも更新できそう」と挑戦してみるも、つるつるしたコーヒー豆をつまむことに加えてスピードも必要で、意外と難しい・・・。さらに細かくルールも決められており、「2個一度に運んじゃったから失格だ」と悔しそうに自己申告してくれた子もいました。それでも「一回手でやってみる！」と世界記録のスピード感を肌でつかんでから箸に挑戦したり、「50個何分で運べるか挑戦してみる！」と世界記録との差を知ろうしたりとするなど、世界記録に向けてそれぞれの角度から挑む姿が見られました。

　2種目目はシンプルな「立ち幅跳び」。世界記録は3.73m。どこまで跳べるか、全力で挑戦しました。「助走をつけたら越えられるかも」「裸足でやったほうが跳べそう」と、ここでも仮説を立てながら挑戦していました。2メートル以上の差があり、あらためて「世界」に驚いていました。

　3種目目は「拍手」。1分間で何回手を叩けるかを競いました。そもそも1分間手を叩き続けることが意外ときつい！子どもたちも「腕が痛い！」となりながらも動き回りながらや踊りながらなど、工夫しながら記録を伸ばしていきました。熱中して7回も挑戦する子もおり、シンプルながらも奥が深い世界記録でした。ちなみに世界記録は1,140回、なんと1秒間に20回弱のペースです！

　4種目目は「鉛筆立て」。子どもたちも毎日触れている身近な道具を使って、1分間に何本立てられるかを競いました。世界記録は55本です。何度も挑戦するうちに「長い鉛筆は難しい」「机の真ん中のほうが立ちやすそう」など発見を重ねていきました。最初の記録から2倍以上に伸びた子もいました。

　集中して挑戦しているうちにあっという間に時間が経ち、今回は閉会。残念ながら世界記録更新はできませんでしたが、参加者の中での最高記録「Pocketレコード」をみんなで称えあいました。「学校でも鉛筆立てに挑戦してみたい」「次は走り幅跳びもやってみたい」と、次への挑戦の姿勢も見られました。

　後日Pocketに来た際に「世界一の人の拍手見た！すごかったで！」と動画を参考にして練習した成果を見せてくれました！

　今回の挑戦で、これまで遠い世界に感じていた世界記録が実は身近なところにもあると気づき、それに挑戦するきっかけになってくれればと思っています。子どもたちの今後の世界記録樹立にも期待しています！

[Aiming to Be No. 1 in the World! Challenging World Records!]

In the school library, “world record books” are constantly checked out by eager readers. Realizing that many children admire world records, we organized an event to give them a real chance to challenge them. A total of seven children, ranging from first to fifth graders, eagerly took on the challenge.

As they entered Pocket, they discovered a giant hand drawn on the entrance pillar! Looking up, there was a face! We had recreated the height of the “tallest person in the world” alongside their “largest hand in the world.” The kids stood back-to-back against the pillar to compare their heights and measured their own hands. “Is he really this tall…?” “This person’s hand is bigger than my foot!” they gasped, feeling the sheer scale of the record with absolute amazement.

We prepared four world record events for this challenge, all of which were selected so the kids could easily try them again at home.

The first event was “moving coffee beans into a cup with chopsticks in one minute.” The current world record stands at 48 beans. “Even I could beat this!” some said confidently as they gave it a shot. However, pinching slippery coffee beans while racing against the clock proved to be surprisingly difficult… The rules were also quite strict; one child regretfully disqualified themselves, saying, “I moved two at once by accident, so I’m disqualified.” Even so, the kids attacked the challenge from different angles. One decided, “I’m going to try it with my bare hands first!” to get a physical sense of the world-record speed before switching back to chopsticks. Another aimed to see how many minutes it would take to move 50 beans, eager to measure the exact distance between themselves and the world record.

The second event was a simple “standing long jump.” The world record is 3.73 meters. Everyone gave it their absolute all to see how far they could jump. Here too, the kids formulated their own hypotheses: “Maybe I can clear it if I get a running start!” or “I bet I can jump further barefoot!” Facing a gap of over two meters from the world record, they were once again left in awe of what “world-class” really means.

The third event was “clapping.” They competed to see how many times they could clap their hands in one minute. First of all, clapping continuously for a full minute is surprisingly exhausting! Crying out “My arms hurt!”, the kids still kept moving around or even dancing, finding creative ways to keep their momentum and improve their scores. One child got so hooked they challenged it seven times—proving that even a simple record can have incredible depth. By the way, the world record is a mind-boggling 1,140 claps, which is nearly 20 claps per second!

The fourth event was “pencil standing.” Using a familiar tool they touch every day at school, they competed to see how many pencils they could stand upright on a flat surface in one minute. The world record is 55. As they tried over and over, they made various discoveries: “Longer pencils are harder,” or “It seems easier to make them stand in the middle of the desk.” Some children even more than doubled their initial scores through sheer practice and focus!

As they focused deeply on their challenges, time flew by in a flash, and it was time for the closing ceremony. Although they unfortunately couldn’t break any official world records this time, everyone celebrated the top personal scores within the group, crowning them as “Pocket Records.” Showing a wonderful attitude toward future challenges, they shared thoughts like, “I want to try the pencil-standing challenge at school, too!” and “Next time, I want to try the running long jump!”

A few days later, some kids came back to Pocket and proudly said, “I watched a video of the world’s fastest clapper! It was incredible!” and showed off the results of their practice inspired by the video.

Through this challenge, we hope the kids realized that world records—which might have felt like a distant world before—are actually connected to things right around them, and that this serves as a spark to keep challenging themselves. We look forward to seeing our children set their own world records in the future!