Sunday 23 December 2012

冬至 (dōng zhì)Winter solstice



To celebrate the winter solstice as well as the last class of the term, we have made, cooked & ate 湯圓 tāng yuán (glutinous rice balls) which is still the tradition for winter solstice.  I like my tāng yuán in hot gingery sweet soup when I was a kid and now I love them in savoury soup. Some bigger tāng yuán have sweet filling like sesame, red bean, peanut paste inside which are available in most Asian stores.  The round shape of rice balls represent closures and family reunion and children gain one year older.....I still remembered I was told that I won't be one year older if I didn't finish my rice balls when I was a kid!

Younger children enjoyed our workshop of making the tang yuan and spring rolls.  Pity that only some of them like eating the tang yuan.  Older children were making dumplings.  We also did a Chinese painting workshop with older children and I was impressed with their art works!!
Pity that I didn't get to take more photos but these two.



Tuesday 11 December 2012

聖誕卡 (圣诞卡) shèng dàn kǎ Christmas Cards

We always look out for different arts and crafts ideas for different occasions and to suit different age groups too.  The outcomes are fabulous and children can never had enough time for crafts!  Here're some photos we have so far and more to come later on this week.

The younger children learn to say 聖誕快樂(圣诞快乐)shèng dàn kuài lè which literary translated Jesus's birthday happy (Happy Christmas).  They coloured in the words and decorated their cards.



The older children learn to write 聖誕快樂 and made the waterfall cards.