Unit Study: China

In preparation for our upcoming "world schooling" trip, we spent the past two weeks learning about China, the first stop in our month-long trip. I didn't follow any particular curriculum here. I just mainly checked out a lot of library books and looked for video resources and hands-on activities, as well. Here are the books we read:

Chinese Menu, by Grace Lin
Rabbit's Gift, by George Shannon
Chang'e On The Moon, by Katrina Moore
China, by Joanne Mattern
China, by Chloe Perkins
Meals in China, by R.J. Bailey
Foods of China, by Christine Levure Rohalt
Myths and Legends of China
All About China, by Allison Branscombe
Grandma Panda's China Storybook, by Mingmei Yip
The House Baba Built, by Ed Young
The Jade Dragon, by Jessica Gunderson
D is for Dancing Dragon, by Carol Crane
Chinese Art, Patricia Bjaaland Welch
Dim Sum for Everyone, by Grace Lin
Various Chinese language books
Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas, by Natasha Yim
The Monkey King, by Ed Young

Throughout the course of the two weeks, we watched Born in China, a documentary about baby animals that are native to China, and Flavorful Origins, a Netflix docu-series about food in China. The girls are now very excited to try some new cuisine! We also found some Youtube videos of tai chi, and tried to practice along with them. 

During the earlier part of our study, we read and studied some of the history of China, as well as basic customs and etiquette. We practiced some phrases and words that will be helpful to know, and watched a collection of Are We There Yet? World Adventure videos about China. This was really helpful to learn about cultural landmarks and symbols. 

We did the tangram activity in one of our library books. Pumpkin wanted to create her own, which was a dragon, to no one's surprise!

We also did some paper cutting, using a template from one of our favorite authors, Grace Lin. She releases a free template each year for the Lunar New Year, so we did this year's snake. You can find the templates by clicking here and scrolling down toward the bottom of the page. 

Will I ever get a picture of the girls both smiling and looking at the camera at the same time? Probably not. More importantly, the girls tried their hands at calligraphy. Here are the numbers 1-10.

We learned about Chinese music, listening to modern Chinese pop music, as well as traditional music. We watched several YouTube videos of various traditional instruments. We also perused a library book about common themes and symbols in Chinese art. 

One of our favorite things to do is read folklore, and China has a LOT of folklore. The capricious Monkey King was a favorite, and the story of Chang'e made me cry. Our other favorite thing to learn about was food, and happily, those two interests collided in Grace Lin's Chinese Menu, which is a collection of folklore, myths, and legends all about popular Chinese foods. The girls now have a list of things they want to try on our trip, and after talking to the friends we are visiting, we might be able to fulfill their wishes! We'll report back on that in a few months!