Ni Hao,
This week we celebrated Chinese New Year; we are leaving the Year of the Dog and moving into the Year of the Pig. It was a busy and enjoyable week learning all about customs and traditions. The children heard the story of how the Chinese zodiac came to be and some listened really well to the story of how an Emperor invited animals to a swimming race, the first 12 animals across the raging river would be the winners and have a year named after them. There were kind animals, animals who shared, tricky animals and sneaky animals all who gained places in the zodiac. As it turns out, Pauline & Nicky were born in the Year of the Rat – the rats threw the cat in the river – so beware our feline friends!
The role-play area was set up with a Chinese table cloth, dishes, spoons and of course, chopsticks with lots of different types of Chinese play food & menus. It was out with the saucepans and in with the woks!
On the craft front those children who chose to made a Chinese dragon and a paper pig plate and helped Lisa make a lovely Chinese display board, showing their own work as well as Chinese numbers, lanterns and all backed with real Chinese Newspaper!
We watched some Chinese dragon dancing on the computer and reenacted our own dance using a paint splattered sheet for the body of the dragon and a wonderful dragon’s head which the children helped Aleesha to make, it was fantastic!
Of course, we couldn’t have Chinese New Year without tasting some scrumptious Chinese food… we ate some lovely noodles, prawn crackers and vegetable spring rolls which were enjoyed by all (well mostly all!)