Lately, my 4-year-old daughter has been into learning about geodes, pebbles, and crystals. I got her a box of jewel stickers (eg, rhinestone, gemstone stickers), and she has been creating her own art with the little craft jewels. Jewel stickers are a fun way to improve eye-hand coordination, strengthen fine motor muscles, and develop pre-writing skills. Yesterday, my daughter asked me to plan a learning Chinese activity for her, so I printed out 宝石/寶石 (Bǎoshí / jewel) block characters. She actually made up the fine motor activities on her own, and I thought they would be perfect to share with other families! These activities took only a couple minutes to set up, but they kept her busy for a whole hour!
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What you need:
- Block character templates: click here for free download in simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese
- Gemstone (rhinestone) stickers
- Printer paper or cardstock
- Printer
- Markers
Different ways to use jewel stickers for learning:
- Print out Chinese Block Character template. Have you child color and/or fill in Chinese character with jewel stickers.
- Write large words with marker; have child trace the words with jewel stickers
- Draw rainbow or a shape. Have child place jewel stickers along the lines – they can match the jewel stickers to the color of the marker!
- Draw a shape. Have child fill in shape with jewel stickers.
My daughter decided that she wanted to coloring the block character instead of filling it with jewel stickers. I love the rainbow pattern that she created! Here’s a video of her working alongside her 20-month-old brother. He likes to do whatever my daughter is doing, and he kept himself busy dabbing with dot markers!
A great benefit of this activity is that it requires focus and concentration, so your child can work quietly while you get other things done around the house! I prepared dinner and changed little brother’s diaper while she was finishing her rainbow and hearts!
Here is my daughter decorating a rainbow with the rhinestone stickers. In hindsight, I should have drawn the rainbow a little smaller because she wanted me to help her finish the pink arch of the rainbow. The heart activity was a perfect fit for her, however!
Here is the beautiful, final result!! Great fine motor strengthening while creating art and practicing pre-writing Chinese characters!
Check out all of our free, printable Chinese block character activities in this link!
If you do this activity with jewel stickers, please let us know! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag @CHALKAcademy on Instagram and Facebook! We love to see how other families do educational activities! Activities help both my daughter and I learn and retain many important Chinese characters while having fun!
Recommended Links
To see all hands-on Chinese learning activities, please browse our activities by topic with your child(ren)!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll try my best to answer them! Please leave a note in the comments!
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