For our unit study this January, we're learning about Chinese New Year. For a very simple activity, I got out our red and white candy cane play dough that was a Christmas present for the boys. I had separated it after giving it to the boys into mostly red and mostly white glittery play dough.
With the red play dough, Aaron (3 1/2) made an interesting dragon/dinosaur guy all by himself. If you don't like dragons or dinosaurs you could choose another traditional Chinese animal to have the kids try to make.
Andrew (2) and I made pretend jiǎo zi (饺子), known in the west as Chinese dumplings, out of the white play dough. Jiǎo zi are traditional Chinese New Year food. First, we rolled it out and cut circles, and then put a little bit of "filling" in and folded them over. Andrew liked doing this but did need quite a bit of help, and I was definitely the only one who crimped the edges. However, older kids could do all the steps on their own pretty easily. Then the boys practiced using chopsticks or a spoon to transfer the jiǎo zi back and forth from bowl to bowl. Sometime we'll have to learn how to make real jiǎo zi since we all love it.
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