Chinese New Year is one of my kids' favorite holidays from around the world to celebrate. They look forward to it every year.
I've shared several activities that we've had on our shelves during the Chinese New Year, but the majority of them have been geared towards older preschool and elementary students.
Today I'm sharing our Montessori Chinese New Year Activities for Preschoolers. These activities have been specifically designed for little ones.
Before moving forward with our activities I wanted to mention that we have chosen to use the term Chinese New Year because these activities specifically focus on how the holiday is celebrated in Chinese culture.
The activities do not include a focus on other Lunar New Year celebrations around the world, especially those that do not take place on the same day.
Montessori Chinese New Year Activities for Preschoolers
Chinese New Year Nomenclature Card Activity
There's nothing quite like learning about Chinese New Year culture with hands on manipulatives! It makes the experience so much more fun. In this activity students match up objects with nomenclature cards.
Over the years I've had a ton of fun collecting little trinkets related to Chinese New Year on Amazon. If you're able to get your hands on them too, the kids will love them.
But, if you're not able to afford the real deal or have no access to objects, you always have the option of matching picture cards.
Source: The printables used for these activities come from the Montessori-inspired Chinese New Year Printable Pack.
Chinese New Year Animal Matching Activity
Our kids are huge fans of animal figures incorporated into learning activities. The
Safari LTD Chinese Zodiac Toob was the perfect addition to our collection.
The figures provide a great matching activity for little ones who can't read. At the same time the activity provides an introduction to animal words.
If you don't have the figures, you can always use the cards as nomenclature cards or a simple memory game.
Depending on where your students are at, you could use the cards or figures in combination with the moveable alphabet to practice spelling.
Source: The printables used for these activities come from the Montessori-inspired Chinese New Year Printable Pack.
D is for Dragon Tissue Paper Activity
This activity is a fabulous way to introduce letters and sounds to little ones. The printable comes with both uppercase and lowercase options for selected letters related to Chinese New Year.
Kiddos open the container of glue, paint the letter with glue, and stick on pieces of red and yellow tissue paper.
If you have a little one who is starting to cut, she could cut the tissue paper strips herself in preparation for the activity.
Ever since Sunshine could hold a crayon, she has always loved to write, even when she didn't know how. For this reason, I began creating writing strips with a majority of our unit studies. Chinese New Year is no exception!
Before Sunshine felt confident forming her own letters on lines, I would provide only the tracing letter option of the writing strips. Once she felt comfortable writing letters on her own, I would provide the control and the blank wordstrips for her to use.
For those learning to count, these cards and tiny
ingots are a delight to work with. Cards for numbers through twenty are provided.
Chinese New Year Character Painting Activity
This is by far the most favorite activity on our Chinese New Year shelves each year. The kids love writing in Chinese.
Depending on the age of your little one and how long you want them to be painting, you can use one card or all twelve. Be sure to laminate them, if you are able, to protect them from the mess that will occur as the painting occurs.
I usually provide a container of black paint, paint brush and small pieces of red construction paper for this activity. The kids know they may use one piece of paper per character.
Apple Cutting Activity
Chinese New Year celebrations include many special fruits and vegetables. I have created cards for each and every one. Depending on what produce is available in your area, you can create several fruit and vegetable themed practical life activities.
If you're not able to obtain fresh produce, cards can be used in matching games or as nomenclature cards.
Did you know that apples are special to Chinese New Year celebrations? In this activity little ones will practicing cutting apples using the slicer in the picture.
Because little ones often don't have the strength and motor skills to cut through an entire apple, we provide apple slices for them to cut instead.
Orange Peeling Activity
Mandarin oranges also have a special place in Chinese New Year celebrations.
Learning to peel an orange can often be a bit tricky for little ones.
In this activity, I make cuts in the orange peel ahead of time. Kiddos then practice peeling the orange, placing peels in one bowl and slices in another. I used clementine oranges. They're the perfect size for little hands.
Pomegranate Seed Spooning Activity
Pomegranate is such a fun fruit to work with. Like the mandarin orange and apple, it has a special place in Chinese New Year celebrations.
Little ones practice spooning pomegranate fruit from one bowl to the other using the spoon provided.
Pomegranate Fruit Extraction Activity
For little ones with a bit more coordination and strength when completing fine motor tasks, extracting the edible pomegranate fruit pieces is a fantastic practical life activity.
A spoon is provided so kids don't have to use their hands. The spoon is super tiny to ensure success.
Chinese New Year Flower Arrangement Activity
Chinese New Year celebrations include several beautiful blossoms. I have created picture and description cards for each of these blossoms.
Depending on what blossoms are available in your area (real or artificial), will depend on the variety you can include in your flower arranging activity.
I don't have access to many at all where I live, but was able to find these beautiful plum blossoms online. Little ones love making flower arrangements to use decorate the classroom.
If you have access to all of the blossoms and various plants, you could use the cards I created in a matching activity.
If you can't find any blossoms and plants, you can always use the cards for matching games or as nomenclature cards.
Next year I may include a lucky bamboo plant in our studies and teach the kids to care for it.
Source: The printables used for these activities come from the Montessori-inspired Chinese New Year Printable Pack.
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