Chinese New Year, The Preschool Set

I promised to keep y'all updated on our Chinese New Year celebrations...and so I am. On Tuesday, I was in charge of our Joy School group. Three 3 year olds. The lesson for the day was Curiosity, but I was really set on sharing a few Chinese New Year traditions with the kids. Here's what I came up with:

We started the day with the Curiosity bit. Look around the house, girls - do you see anything that you've never seen before? 

(San Tai Gin Hong - Wishes for Health! Such couplets are really common during Chinese New Year, both spoken to friends and posted on walls. Generally, they aren't hand-written in crayon on construction paper - they would be printed in gold on red cardboard. But...you do what you gotta do!)

(Siu Jeun and Ming Wai, dressed up in their New Year finery. They helped us tell a story later in the day - Ming Wai always dawdles and notices EVERYTHING. Siu Jeun is incredibly thoughtful, and very focused. When they head off to visit MaMa for New Year, Siu Jeun thinks they should take some flowers, and luckily Ming Wai noticed some flowers along the path that would do perfectly!)

Lo Gung informed me that peonies are very popular during New Years, as they are considered very lucky. I followed Martha Stewart's tutorial, subbing in markered coffee filters for the 8 sheets of tissue paper. Hers, of course, were touted as "dahlias." But...you know, whatever. Tell the kids they're peonies. It's all just puffy flowers! (Please, if you do this project, make sure you do NOT use white paper!!!! White decor is for funerals. Red is lucky. The end.)

We also cozied up around the table and made these cookies from Lily's Wai Sek Hong:

Lily's Wai Sek Hong Walnut Cookies (Hup Toh Sou)

The cookies were sweet and rather tasty, if insanely messy to make. I should have added a bit more moisture to help the cookies hold together. Oh well - live and learn! (BTW, Lily has loads of tasty, authentic Chinese recipes. Sometimes the ingredients are hard to find, but she's really quick to help her readers find local substitutes. In this case, the cookies called for Ammonium Powder, and she gave us directions to substitute Baking Powder.)

There you go! Go forth with your preschoolers and make a mess!