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You are here: Home / Teach Kids Chinese / Fun & Educational Chinese Activities – A How-To Guide

Fun & Educational Chinese Activities – A How-To Guide

By Betty
November 2, 2017

2 Nov
506shares
  • 28

Looking for FUN ways to teach your child how to read Chinese?  Don’t have much time?  Here is our family’s guide on how to incorporate simple, child-led, and educational Chinese literacy activities into your regular routine!

Hands-on Chinese activities for kids

Fun & Educational Chinese Activities – A How-To Guide

Hands-on activities are key to building a well-rounded and curious child who is enthusiastic about learning how to read Chinese!

The best educational experiences engage many senses and provide context for the material at hand.  Therefore, new words will be interesting and remembered in a positive way.

In general, the ideal activity is:

  1. Quick and easy to set up
  2. Free/upcycled or inexpensive
  3. Reusable (eg, can repeat for review)
  4. Sparking discussion in Chinese
  5. Promoting literacy
  6. Fun, fun, fun!

WHO can take part?

Preschoolers, elementary school-aged children, and adults!  There’s no upper age limit.

Adult supervision is recommended for all activities, and parental participation makes the experience extra meaningful!

WHAT kind of activities should we do?

Check out our hands-on activities for ideas on how to use play, games, art, and crafts to encourage Chinese dialogue and teach Chinese reading.  The activities are categorized by subject.

Show your child pictures of different activities and ask which one he or she would like to try!  The ideal activity for each kid depends on their personality and developmental level.

WHERE should we do the activities?

Set up a “Chinese Activities Station” in your home!

Generally, we set up activities on trays on bookcase that is neat, accessible, and consistently dedicated to Chinese learning.

Sometimes, I set out learning activities on our dining/homework table.

Hands-on Chinese activities for kids

WHEN is the best time to do activities?

The ideal time will vary from family to family, but most of the activities on this website don’t require much prep time. 

When my kids were younger and I worked during the day, I would brainstorm and set up activities after my kids go to bed.

In the morning, my children would be curious and want to check out what’s new!

However, sometimes, they would not be interested right away, and that’s okay! I would try to introduce the activity, but if they still weren’t interested, I would leave the activities on the trays and see if they come back to it another time.

As for frequency, the right amount really depends on your family and how busy you are. Some weeks my kids only do 1 new activity, and some days we do a bunch!

So….HOW exactly do we get started?

If you child is just starting to learn Chinese, I suggest beginning with an activity that teaches a simple Chinese character with materials that you already have at your house.  Build anticipation and tell your child that you have a surprise planned for today’s Chinese lesson!

Here are 5 super activities for beginners

  • Form Chinese Words with Playdough:  A sensory activity that can teach basic Chinese characters
  • Chinese Hopscotch and Other Sidewalk Chalk activities:  Exercise, play, and reading practice an all in one!
  • DIY Cardboard Roll Projector Word Shadow Show: A fun way to mix science and Chinese learning!
  • Chinese Character Sticker Tracing:  An interactive way to engage Chinese characters by focusing on each stroke!
  • Sun & Moon Paint Stamp – An activity with recycled paper rolls that focuses on 日 (rì / sun) and 月 (yuè / moon)

But before you dive in, let me share these important tips:

  • Be flexible with your expectations.  It might take a little trial and error to figure out which activities piqué your child’s interest.
  • Make sure the activity is developmentally appropriate.  Don’t push them to memorize complex characters or give them tools (eg, chopsticks) that they can’t manipulate yet.
  • Adapt the activity to your child’s level.  Most activities can be adjusted to focus on one simple character or more complex sentence building.
  • HAVE FUN!  Your participation shows that you care about being part of their language learning and sharing the experience together!

Which Chinese activities will your family do first? 

Please share in the comments, and don’t forget to tag a photo @CHALKAcademy on Instagram and Facebook!

Tips on creating a Chinese learning environment at home

  • Teach Your Child a Second Language at Home with 5 Key Steps
  • Raising Multilingual Children as a Non-Fluent Parent: 7 Lessons Learned
  • How To Get Your Child To Speak the Minority Language
  • Encourage A Child to Love and Speak the Minority Language with 5 Strategies
  • How to Find a Foreign Language Teacher for Your Child

Teaching kids how to read Chinese

  • When and How to Introduce Chinese Characters to Kids?
  • 5 Basic Tips for Memorizing Chinese Characters
  • Create a Print-Rich Environment with Labels that Promote Literacy
  • How I Taught My Child 1000+ Chinese Characters as a Non-Fluent Speaker
  • When Should My Child Learn Hanyu Pinyin?

Let’s Connect!

Follow me on Facebook where I share my latest posts as well as favorite articles about children’s education, Chinese resources, and hands-on activities from other websites!

On Instagram, I share activity highlights and how we integrate Chinese learning in our daily life!

Happy learning, friends!

5 Comments

About Betty

I'm a Chinese-American mom who is having fun teaching my children Mandarin Chinese while re-learning the language myself. I love coming up with creative, hands-on, and educational activities, and I hope these ideas help your children have fun learning Chinese!

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Comments

  1. Angie Yeow says

    November 11, 2017 at 10:51 pm

    Love how you make use of all the western fun hands on activities turned into mandarin excitement! Wish I had done this for my kids! Oh well, now is the boring way…. Miss those times when I could do such fun games and prepare so much materials for them!! I’ve added your link to my resource post. Thank you for the inspiring posts!
    https://growinghearts123.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/resourceful-ways-to-help-your-child-learn-chinese-%E5%9B%9B%E4%BA%94%E5%BF%AB%E8%AF%BB-and-more/

    Reply
    • Betty says

      November 18, 2017 at 12:48 am

      Hi Angie! Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so honored to be added to your website and hope that our websites can help other families! 🙂 PS I don’t think it’s to late to do fun games with your kids but I also might be biased heheh

      Reply
  2. Kyleen says

    November 17, 2017 at 8:24 pm

    I just discovered your blog…This is AMAZING. I am blown away by your kids’ linguistic abilities and your fun activities! And we share a love for QiaoHu. Wow! You are doing such a great job. I can’t believe your kids read already! I am sharing this site with all my Chinese and ABC mom friends. They are going to love it!

    Reply
    • Betty says

      November 18, 2017 at 12:51 am

      Hi Kyleen! I really appreciate your encouragement and thank you for sharing my site with your friends! I’m so happy I found your website too today! It’s so inspiring to learn from like-minded parents!

      Reply
  3. Irene says

    May 27, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    Thank you for the creative and tips to be active learning with our children!

    Thank you for the advise and reminder to stay positive and creating the environment for kids… found your website recently during this pandemic lockdown…have being blessed and encouraged, especially coping the learning with little ones and work! Keep winning!

    Reply

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Dr. Betty Choi CHALK Academy - 2

Hi! I’m Betty, a Chinese-American mom, believer, pediatrician, and writer.  I’m having fun learning Chinese with my children, and I love sharing multilingual resources and teaching tips!  I hope these ideas can help your family or school! Read More…

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