Celebrating Chinese New Year Through Pretend Play

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Chinese New Year Celebrations and Pretend Play


The Pretend Play Area in the K1 Pod is presently set up as an area to celebrate Chinese New Year!

The children are really enjoying exploring the space and resources and I can firmly say it is one of my favourite pretend play themes that I set up in the pod each year.

We are having fun discussing and exploring the following-
  • The Chinese New Year holiday lasts for 15 days
  • Red and gold are the main colours used to celebrate Chinese New Year
  • There are many different types of decorations such as lanterns, firecrackers, pineapples and the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac Calendar
  • Families clean and decorate their homes
  • Many people buy new clothes
  • They may have parties in their homes and visit families and friends
  • They may have a special family dinner on New Year’s Eve known as Reunion Dinner
  • They may give gifts such as red packets and oranges
  • Red packets are also known as hong baos and usually contain money or may contain chocolate money, if given to children!
  • There are firework displays at night
  • There are lion and dragon dances in private homes and in places such as shopping malls and condominiums
  • Lantern Festivals celebrate the last day of the holiday
The children’s learning can be enhanced through sharing, discussing and acting out Chinese legends and tales. The story of Nian the Monster is a popular tale! According to the story, a long time ago in China, a Monster named Nian lived in the mountains (or under the sea according to some versions of the story) and visited a Chinese village every Chinese New Year. Each year, Nian scared the people and ate all their food. The people discovered Nian was afraid of three things: fire, the colour red and loud noise. So they scared him away, back to his home!

Another popular tale is the story of how the years in the Chinese Zodiac Calendar were named after twelve animals. The years were named according to the order in which the animals finished a race across a wide river. First was rat, then ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, cockerel, dog and lastly pig! Perhaps you could find out and discuss the year in which the members of your family were born. I was born in the year of The Rooster.

Maybe your child could retell these stories at home in their home language. Perhaps you can create your own animal masks or costumes and act out the stories together!

The children are also having lots of fun learning about Chinese New Year in their language classes at school with their wonderful Chinese Teachers.

Here are links to short youtube videos (in English) that you may like to share with your child:


Chinese New Year Zodiac Story and also this one

The Story of Nian

Maybe you would like to create your own Chinese New Year celebration area at home. If you do, I would love to hear about it!  You can email me at wmo@uwcsea.edu.sg

Have fun!

Have a wonderful holiday!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Best wishes,

Wanda Morgan
(K1 Support Teacher)

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