The Lunar New Year is February 10th, so this week we learned a few things about it! First of all, it’s The Year of the Dragon, which is the fifth animal of the Chinese Zodiac. We learned that our friends born in 2018 were born in The Year of the Dog, and those born in 2019 are The Year of the Pig.
One of the customs of the Lunar New Year (like so many holidays) is to prepare the home. Families sweep and clean to get rid of bad luck, and put up decorations like flower blossoms and paper lanterns. So we did the same on Monday, painting blossoms and making our own lanterns. For the blossom project, children began by using markers to draw brown branches. Then they used plastic bottles to stamp clusters of blossoms. Everyone did at least 15 stamps, so that they could practice 1-to-1 counting. We hung these up in the front of our classroom, and they add a wonderful touch of spring!
For the lanterns, they chose from a variety of paper designs, and then cut along pre-drawn lines. They are really getting good at their scissor skills! Our parent helper assisted with the necessary folding and stapling. Once their lanterns were finished we hung them from the curtains. Feel free to come in and take a look.
Red and gold are both symbolic colors in Lunar New Year celebrations, so on Tuesday the kids did an art project using a credit card to spread blobs of red and gold paint across a small canvas. They sprinkled gold glitter over the top as a final touch.
They also did a measuring project with yarn “noodles”, using unifix cubes to determine and compare the lengths of each noodle.
On Wednesday our art project was making dragons out of egg cartons. There were lots of red and gold supplies available and children could do whatever they wanted to as they created their dragons. These are all on display in the hallway.
Thursday they got to make their own dragon or lion mask and we had a Lunar New Year parade during group time.
They also played a counting game with rice candy and chopsticks, and everyone got a red pouch with a shiny penny inside to take home. There were also tangerines (representing happiness and abundance) at this activity that children could eat or put in their school bags.
Other Lunar Year activities around the room included soup bowls, spoons, takeout containers, chopsticks, gold buttons and red beads in the texture table. The kids especially enjoyed hunting for the gold buttons!
At the water tub the kids could catch snakes with chopsticks and drop them into critter catchers.
We played a hiding game with animals from the Chinese Zodiac during our group time, and put it in the book nook for the children to play during their free time as well.
There were red and gold stones at the light table, along with little multi-colored boxes to tuck them inside.
There were jacks and rods out at the building table. These had nothing to do with Lunar New Year, but we remembered how much the children enjoyed them when they were out in September. Definitely worth revisiting!
On Wednesday our parent helper taught everyone how to play Spot-It Jr. In this game, children look at a pair of cards with animal pictures on them and try to find the animal that is on both cards as quickly as they can. This will be out for them to play during their free time for the next week or two. It can be played independently or with a friend.
We put some new activities in the fine motor/writing area for the kids to explore. Suction cup builders and rubber bands with geoboards were a hit!
Here are a few more photos of our free time activities:
We read lots of Lunar New Year themed books during our time together at the rug. We also played the Zodiac sign guessing game, and did scarf, beanbag and freeze dancing. Ask your preschooler to tell you about Kitty Princess or Mr. & Mrs. Haktak!
Outside it was the usual running, climbing, swinging, fort-building fun!
Next week is all about Valentine’s Day – such a fun holiday with this age! We also are going to start one of our most beloved Small Friends traditions: Panda home visits. The kids are so excited!
We’ll see you soon!
Warmly,
Lisa and Jelena
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