Jerry (4) and James (6) had their eyes closed and asked me: “Are you ready?” I was busy trying to find a good place to hide the bouncy ball. They couldn’t wait to start playing the Hot and Cold game in Mandarin Chinese. One of them was “whispering” rè rè rè (hot). The other one was giggling lěng lěng lěng (cold). This was their first time playing this game in Mandarin but they were ready to start.
Kids love to play games. Games that they can move around, touch something, or look for “treasures.” Do you have a collection of games to play with your child?
Sometimes we are so eager to add more Chinese characters to our kid’s learning. At times, we want to add more flashcards for our child to try and practice. We also have a collection of printables to try. Our progress seems slow.
We are so busy and forget to ask ourselves, “Am I having fun?” and “Is my child having fun?”
When we first started the Chinese program James was very worried about making mistakes. Today, James read a short Chinese rhyme in Chinese characters all by himself. There was no pinyin support. There was no English translation. His younger brother joined him in the reading session as the young boy didn’t want to miss any fun.
Hot and Cold is a game we can play in many ways. Use word and picture cards. Add toys and topic items. Use short sentences to give simple instruction. Hide them. Let’s the treasure hunt begin. Let’s play!
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Photo by Myles Tan
