Developing fine motor control plays an important role in the children’s activities in Nursery so, as part of their focus on Chinese New Year, some of them tried out their skills at copying some Chinese writing and numbers using both paint and pens. They showed great enthusiasm and concentration, producing some super work.
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Alex’s family has been looking at the photos of the children in their Chinese dragon parade:
“Alex loved banging the drum and being the leader!”
Alex was a super leader of our band and showed great confidence to lead the parade in school. Well done Alex!
Just like those in the Rainbow Room, the children in the Raindrop Room were excited to find out about Chinese New Year and created their own Chinese dragons as part of their learning about the celebration. Here you can see them busy, indoors and out, working together in their dragon making.
Dragons have a great appeal to the children when learning about Chinese New Year so we asked the question in the Rainbow Room, “What would you do if you got a dragon for your birthday?” Here are some of the children’s thoughts.
Sophie G.: I would be happy.
Teddie: I’d feed him treats.
Alex: I’d take him to Dino Park.
Zack: I’d feed him dragon food – salad.
Skye C.: I’d play with him.
Berrie: I’d be happy. I’ve never had one before.
Emmie: take him to Tesco’s.
Isaac M.: I’d be happy and play with toys. He could eat chocolate fingers.
Rosie: maybe we could fly for dog food.
Euan: I’d play with my dino car. It’s really big.
Jackson: I’d take him a walk to my Grandad’s.
Paisley T.: I’d be sad. It would make me cry.
Arthur: feed him dragon food.
As part of their learning about Chinese New Year the Rainbow Room children spent some time watching clips of Chinese dragon dances as part of the celebrations. They enjoyed dancing to the music and comparing the different styles of dragons which led to them creating their own dragons in the art and craft area.
Having learned that red and gold are the lucky colours of Chinese New Year, they set off with great enthusiasm to create their own dragons and we think that they made a super job of it. So impressive were their efforts and enthusiasm that they did a parade, led by their own little band and some background Chinese music, along the school corridor to visit the classrooms on the ground floor. Great confidence was shown by the children on this visit and pupils and staff in school were so welcoming and delighted to see us which led to Mr. Palmer inviting them to perform at the whole school assembly.
What a wonderful conclusion to our learning about Chinese New Year to perform in a parade in front of the whole school! Despite a few nerves, all the children made us very proud as they paraded right round the school hall in front of a very large audience. Chinese New Year was certainly a fantastic celebration for these children.
After all the exciting learning and activities based on Scotland, we moved to the other side of the world to talk about Chinese New Year. The children have been learning about customs and traditions from another culture so the role play areas in both rooms were transformed into a Chinese restaurant.
Our role play areas change according to our children’s interests and the recent enthusiasm for learning about Chinese New Year led to the Raindrop Room having a Chinese restaurant. There were some great meals served up and lots of diners calling in to enjoy them.
As well as lots of great learning activities linked to Chinese New Year, the children in both our Nursery rooms had a taste of Chinese food as part of their experience. Noodles were tricky to manage but the children persevered and had good fun sampling the different foods they were offered.
Just like the Raindrop Room, those in the Rainbow Room have been learning about Chinese New Year and have enjoyed a range of activities. There has been a focus on developing fine motor control with the use of chopsticks to paint and write on paper and in glittery sand while the sand tray turned into a big noodle sensory experience. We have sequenced numbers and tried to copy the Chinese versions, discovered where China is on the globe and danced along with the dragons as we watched them on the big screen. Chinese New Year certainly provides lots of opportunities for learning.
With Chinese New Year being celebrated around the world this week, both Nursery rooms have experienced a range of activities as part of their learning about this special celebration. This little gallery shows the children in the Raindrop Room developing their fine motor skills through the use of tongs and chopsticks to pick up rice which was a fun and challenging activity. Some also made “lai see”, the lucky red envelopes, and attempted to copy some Chinese numbers. We will share photos of the children in the Rainbow Room soon as they too experienced a range of activities linked to Chinese New Year.
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