Craft Time for Young Chinese Learners
The most amazing time when I teach Chinese to children is when we have activity time, game time, storytime, hands-on experiment time, and craft time!
I want to involve the children and provide them constant comprehensible Chinese language input. I talk a lot in class and I use Chinese to communicate with the little kids. I speak Chinese constantly and I use the theme words repeatedly so the young language learners can hear the same words and sentences over and over again. I want to engage the children in the language learning process with their five senses. When my students see Chinese characters on the word wall, when the kids hear the words, when the children smell and touch the craft materials… they are engaged in the language learning process!
Books to go with this craft are Ten Little Ladybugs and Ladybug Girl series. These books inspired me to create this craft for my children who are learning Chinese. There are only 5 items you need for this language learning ladybug craft project. We used a piece of cardboard (any size), scissors, markers, glue, and black sesame. To add language learning to this hands-on activity I put together a Word Treasure Box, a Sentence Treasure Box, and a Chat Generator Box to focus on the key Chinese items for the children who are learning the Chinese language and culture. We also share our knowledge of the insects we see in the yard in different seasons. We compare the symbolic meaning of seeing ladybugs in western culture and Chinese culture.
The black sesame we added to the ladybug was a hit for the kids in class. They got all excited about the smell of black sesame when I took the bowl out. Some had seen it. Some had tried it. Some told me they roasted it and it smelled so good. Black sesame was new to some children and it made this project even more interesting and interactive in practicing new Chinese words. It was a fun session. If you don’t have black sesame for this craft you can easily replace black sesame with baking sprinkles (candy) if it is allowed. Non-candy options are beads, confetti, buttons, short straw pieces.
{Warning: All small craft items are not suitable for young children.}
{Warning: Food allergy of children. You should not have any food items for any craft project if there is any children with food allergy.}
This craft also led us to talk about some Chinese culture about food since we used black sesame on the ladybug. There are black sesame and white sesame. Chinese people believe that eating black sesame is beneficial for keeping the black hair black and healthy. There is Chinese sweet black sesame soup that is a warm cozy treat on a cold winter day. Sesame is a widely used cooking ingredient in Korea and Japan as well. What a fun Chinese language session from craft to culture! Listed below is the Treasure Boxes I have created for you!
Word Treasure Box (Traditional Chinese)
scissors- jiǎn dāo 剪刀
markers- cǎi sè bǐ 彩色筆
black sesame- hēi zhī ma 黑芝麻
ladybug- piáo chóng 瓢蟲
cardboard paper- yìng zhǐ bǎn 硬紙板
Sentence Treasure Box (Traditional Chinese)
First, let’s draw a ladybug on the cardboard with markers.
第一 我們先在硬紙板上畫一隻瓢蟲。
Second, let’s add glue to the outline of the ladybug.
第二 我們把膠水畫在瓢蟲的線上。
Then, let’s add black sesame to the ladybug.
然後 我們把黑芝麻灑在瓢蟲上。
Chat Generator Treasure box (Traditional Chinese)
Do you like your ladybug?
你喜歡你的瓢蟲嗎?
What color does your ladybug have?
你的瓢蟲身上有什麼顏色呢?
Word Treasure Box (simplified Chinese)
scissors- jiǎn dāo 剪刀
markers- cǎi sè bǐ 彩色笔
black sesame- hēi zhī ma 黑芝麻
ladybug- piáo chóng 瓢虫
cardboard paper- yìng zhǐ bǎn 硬纸板
Sentence Treasure Box (simplified Chinese)
First, let’s draw a ladybug on the cardboard with markers.
第一 我们先在硬纸板上画一只瓢虫。
Second, let’s add glue to the outline of the ladybug.
第二 我们把胶水画在瓢虫的线上。
Then, let’s add black sesame to the ladybug.
然后 我们把黑芝麻洒在瓢虫上。
Chat Generator Treasure Box (simplified Chinese)
Do you like your ladybug?
你喜欢你的瓢虫吗?
What color does your ladybug have?
你的瓢虫身上有什么颜色呢?
Craft Time for Language Learning Black Sesame Ladybug
Ladybug craft template download
Craft Time for Language Learning Black Sesame Ladybug