Home Preschool: China

This summer, we had the pleasure of hosting my best friend, who lives in China, for a whole week! So we decided to learn about China for mommy preschool. Honestly, I thought the concept of another country would go right over Pumpkin's head, but she seriously loved this theme! And it was so fun to have Auntie Erin here to share about her experiences living in China, and bring us yummy Chinese snacks! It's so important to us that Pumpkin learns that there are other people and cultures out there besides her own, and we can appreciate and celebrate those that are different from us! We can't wait to learn about more cultures!

Here are some of the activities we did:

Dragon Puppet - Instead of using crepe paper streamers, we made a paper chain. Pumpkin loved dancing around the living room with this dragon.

Paper Plate Fans - We used a Duplo to stamp some cherry blossoms, and Auntie Erin was kind enough to write a Chinese character on the red fan for us.

We ate snacks! Auntie Erin brought us these directly from China, but you could visit your local Asian grocery store or buy some on Amazon.

I would have loved to make these Chinese lanterns, but Pumpkin's cutting skills are not so great yet, so decided to skip it, but this would make a great craft for older kids!

Here are some of the books we read:

Dim Sum for Everyone, Grace Lin
Bringing in the New Year, Grace Lin
China: A Benjamin Blog and His Inquisitive Dog Guide, Anita Ganeri
Ruby's Chinese New Year, Vickie Lee
One Happy Tiger, Catherine Rayner (not really about China, but the illustration is reminiscent of Chinese painting styles - and Pumpkin picked this out herself)

I would also just like to note that basically anything by Grace Lin is awesome. I've been thoroughly enjoying some of her chapter books myself, and wish I had heard of her earlier in my life.

Here are some of the videos we watched:
Are We There Yet? China - Pandas
Are We There Yet? China - Great Wall
Are We There Yet? China - New Year
Are We There Yet? China - Opera
Sesame Street: How to Celebrate the Chinese New Year (Mandarin)
Sesame Street: Dragon Dance

We also found several videos of dragon dances and lion dances, which can easily be found with a quick YouTube search. All of the "Are We There Yet?" videos are so fun, and we're definitely eager to watch more about different countries!