Cherry Burton Pre-School Celebrates Chinese New Year

Children at Cherry Burton Pre-school have been celebrating Chinese New Year this week with an array of exciting activities, including a sumptuous Chinese Banquet full of traditional Chinese food for the children to try (pictured).

As this year is the Chinese year of the monkey, children have been learning to write Monkey in Chinese, amongst other activities.

Pre-school mum Selina Lam, who was born in Hong Kong, has been spending a lot of time in Pre-school over the last week working with the children to make pandas and money trees, and has been so impressed by what the children have learned.

She said: “It’s really quite amazing what the children pick up and how quickly they do so. I love coming into Pre-school to help because the children are always so interested and engaged, and it is a real pleasure to teach them about this fascinating country.”

As well as a banquet and learning how to write in Chinese, the Pre-school staff also organised for children to take part and read the Chinese New Year story.

This famous fable tells the story of the Jade Emperor who wanted to name each year of the Chinese zodiac after an animal, so he organised a race to see which animal should come first. Claire Newton, Pre-school Manager, believes that children learn best when encouraged to take an active part. She told us

“Here at Cherry Burton Pre-school, when we work on a topic such as Chinese New Year, we encourage children to explore and learn in an active rather than a passive way.”

“Organising readings from the Chinese New Year Story, and getting the children physically involved means that they remember, understand, and get so much more out of the experience. It also has a very positive impact on their confidence.”

“China is a great topic for children to explore because it is so different to our own culture and is so much fun.”

As another aspect of this exciting topic children listened to traditional Chinese music, and played drums along to the beat. Exploring China is just one of an array of exciting activities the Pre-school organises to help children understand the world around them.