Well, the week began celebrating Chinese New Year…….Year of the Monkey.
All the children got to make a monkey mask, they listened very well placing the eyes above the nose & nearly all put the smiley mouth below the nose…with a couple of exceptions! The Chinese restaurant was out again – some cooked, others served, while the customers held their Chinese money until they had decided what food they would pick from the menu – all great imaginative play. At register we discussed what happens in China plus about Chinese things/foods & even saying “nǐ hǎo” to their name, although “Kung hei fat choi 2016” (Happy New Year) was just a bit too hard for some! For snack we had ‘prawn crackers’ along with ‘vegetable spring rolls’ for some children the latter was not popular. However…they all loved snapping the Chinese fortune cookies open, letting the adult read from the magical paper inside….some referred it to writing to Father Christmas “He’s magical too!” they replied.
We had special reed sticks to mark make with, as the Chinese writing looks like “lines” one of the children said. There was rice & noodles to play with….although it was amazing at one point how quickly it vanished! Throughout the week we decorated Chinese snakes & flags, as well as doing some weird Chinese dancing with their dragon puppets outside, made from the previous week – we all laughed at ourselves!!!….. The week was enjoyable, and the children learnt about new customs and traditions.