One part of the EYFS areas of learning and development for the children is understanding the world, which aims to help the children make sense of their physical world and to increase their knowledge and sense of the world around them. As such, this week the children will be learning all about the Chinese New Year.
The reason they are learning about Chinese New Year this week is because the Chinese New Year begins on 10th February 2024, and ends on 24th February 2024, with the Lantern Festival. This year is the year of the Dragon.
The Chinese New Year is the biggest and longest holiday celebrated in Chinese culture. It is often referred to as the Spring festival because it signals the beginning of Spring. It is a time when families and friends get together to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new.
The most important celebration is the one held on New Year’s Eve (9th February) which includes the family reunion dinner. New Year’s Day is spent visiting/greeting family and relatives, giving presents, and visiting ancestors' graves. Events are planned each day throughout the festival until the last day where lanterns are lit, hung, or flown, and people watch parades, fireworks, and dragon dances in the street, all of which marks the end of the festival. Lots of food is eaten, especially dumplings, and gifts of good luck are given. Children are given red envelopes with money in them as a blessing and for good luck into the New Year. It is also a tradition for every family before the festival to thoroughly clean their house, to sweep away any ill fortune and to make way for incoming good luck. The colour red is commonly worn throughout Chinese New Year as traditional beliefs held that red could scare away evil spirits. Also red symbolises happiness. The wearing of new clothes is another custom during the festival as new clothes symbolise a new beginning in the year.
All this information will be taught to the children through different activities planned throughout the week. We will be reading the book ‘Maisy's Chinese New Year’ to the children. Each child will also be given a red envelope with some money in which says on the front in Chinese, Happy New Year. The children will listen to music that is played at New Year. They will be trying some Asian food. The children will watch a video of a parade and dragon dancing, then the children will be given dragon masks, and we will do a dragon dance. We will also make lanterns. The rhyme for the 2 year olds this week will be five little dragons to coinside with the year of the dragon.
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