Concluding our Celebration of Chinese New year

As Chinese New Year comes to completion, I would like to share more of what the children

did for Chinese New Year

Being that it is the year of the Dragon, and that one of the days of Chinese New Year

is celebrated with a dragon dance, we created our own Chinese Dragons.

Our first step was to cut up egg cartons so that you have a larger section with six compartments, and another with two.  They were painted and became the eyes and mouth of the dragon.  After they dried they were stapled together.

The children then painted large pieces a paper anyway they would like.

These pieces of paper were tapered at the end and became the body of the dragon.

More paintings of the bodies of the dragons

Once all the parts are dry, they then are stapled together.  Some of the children added tissue paper to theirs for more decorations.

Although we did not have a parade, some of the children took theirs outside to run

 around and play with.

Paper Lanterns

On another day, we created paper lanterns.  This is a great project for having the kids practice cutting. 

Start by prepping a rectangular piece of paper by folding it in half lengthwise and drawing a grid  that has a 1/2 inch border on the edge and top, and 1 inch lines drawn in horizontally.

Then have the children practice cutting on the lines, but not the border edge.

After they opened up their paper, it was folded around in a circle and the children used glue sticks to glue it into the lantern form.

After is was secure in it's lantern form, they added a wire and beaded the wire so they could hang their lanterns

Celebrating with a Visitor

*(photo courtesy of Ella)

We were so excited and lucky to have Steffa, one of the mom's of our school,

come for a morning and talk to us about the four years she lived in China.

She brought with her a lovely selection of outfits, books and toys for the children to see during a sharing time. 

I was thrilled to have someone who was immersed in Chinese culture to come and share more about China and Chinese New Year, but Steffa also shared the language with us.  She speaks Mandarin, and was able to write out the children's names in Chinese Characters, which we later added to their art project.  It was a fun and enriching days for us at school, and here are some pictures of the day.

Steffa holding up a Chinese knot, which the girls were in love with.

Steffa told us how a Chinese knot is a symbol of luck, and that it is a continuous piece of rope all knotted together.  She also spoke about how red and gold are very special colors and are also symbols of good luck and good fortune.

Here is Myles wearing an elaborate hair accessory, one of the show and tell items

 Steffa shared with us

Elianna showing off a special dress adornment that Steffa received from a family she visited in China

Blocks with Chinese Characters and pictures that the kids loved playing with.

 

Art Time

 For art time the children painted large water color backgrounds.

Steffa writing the Characters for their names on their water color washes

The children's names written out

Autumn attempting to write her own name

Elianna's name

Mai, Mai...Myles' nickname in Chinese

Snack Time!

Eating our snack with chop sticks

Autumn eating her apple cake we made for snack, too cute!

What a wonderful two weeks of fun we had

A final Gong Hay Fat Choy.