Learn Chinese 日 Radical Words with Sun Matching Activity (Printable)
The Chinese character 日 (rì) can be defined as day, sun, date, or day of the month. For review of Chinese 日 radical words, my daughter and I made a simple paper plate sun word matching activity!
If you can’t write Chinese or just don’t have time to make the craft, you can use the printable provided in this post!
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Important Chinese 日 vocabulary
日 is a pictograph depicting the sun. Originally a circle with a dot in the center, the central dot has evolved into a 横 (héng / horizontal stroke).
日 is both an independent character and a radical of other characters related to brightness and daytime.
In Chinese, radical is referred to as 部首 (bù shǒu) or 偏旁 (piān páng).
Chinese 日 radical words
- 早 (zǎo / early; morning)
- 明 (míng / bright; clear)
- 晶 (jīng / crystal)
- 春 (chūn / spring season)
- 时 / 時 (shí / time)
- 星 (xīng / star)
- 晚 (wǎn / evening; late; night)
- 旴 (xū / dawn)
- 旱 (hàn / drought)
- 晒 / 曬 (shài / bask or dry in sunlight)
- 暗 (àn / dark; with no sunlight)
- 晓 / 曉 (xiǎo / dawn)
Common words/phrases with the word sun
- 节日 / 節日 (jié rì / holiday)
- 生日 (shēng rì / birthday)
- 出生日期 (chū shēng rì qī / date of birth)
- 星期日 (xīng qī rì / Sunday)
- 日出 (rì chū / sunrise)
- 日记 / 日記 (rì jì / diary)
- 日本 (Rì běn / Japan)
Learn Chinese Weekly has more examples of 日 radical words in various contexts here.
What you need for Sun 日 Radical Words Matching Activity:
Here are 2 options for teaching 日 radical words. See which one is better suite for your family and existing resources!
Printable 日 Radical Words Template
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- Simplified Chinese version (click link to open download window)
- Traditional Chinese version (click link to open download window)
DIY Paper Plate Sun Craft:
- Paper plates
- Yellow paint (if you don’t have yellow paper plates) – We love Apple Barrel acrylic paint!
- Marker / pen
- Yellow card stock paper- We love Astrobrights!
- Scissors
- +/- Glitter glue
How to set up the Sun日 Radical Words Matching Activity:
Printable 日 Radical Words Template
- Cut template along solid lines
- Match sun rays with the sun; repeat for review!
DIY Paper Plate Sun Craft
- Paint paper plate yellow. Let dry.
- Cut yellow cardstock paper into long isosceles triangles. These are the sun rays.
- Write 日 in the center of the paper plate. We used glitter glue for a fun texture and also to represent the brightness of the sun.
- Write words with 日 radical along the edge of the paper plate. As for how many words to include, use 2-4 focus words for younger learners. Include more words for those who are familiar with more Chinese characters.
- Write Chinese words on triangle sun rays.
- Match sun rays with the sun.
- Repeat for review!
Game ideas with sun radicals:
- Print 2 paper plate sun templates; have a race to see who completes the matching game fastest!
- Print 2 copies of the sun rays page; make a memory game out of the sun rays by turning the characters face-down and see who comes up with a matching pair, first!
Presentation in a Montessori Inspired tray
In this photo, you can see how I set up the 日 radical words activity on our Montessori-inspired shelf!
Note: In the printables, I have included common 日 radical words. However, the printable is editable if you have Adobe Pro, and you can substitute with more challenging characters as needed for your child.
For our paper plate version, I included a couple of traditional Chinese characters that my daughter has not yet learned such as 曆.
However, I did not include 曆 for the printable because it’s simplified Chinese version, 历, has no 日 radical. This is the problem with the oversimplification of many Chinese characters: 日 is an essential part of the definition of calendar.
Has your child learned about 日 radical words ?
If you review Chinese 日 radical words with this sun radical word matching activity, please let us know in the comment section below. We love to see how other families do educational activities!
