Ni hao! I’m taking the kids to my parent’s Motherland without the 14-hour flight! 🙌 🙌 🙌
While this can never substitute a real trip to Taiwan, my kids and I have fun learning about and exploring this beautiful country! I have visited my extended family there five times and am counting down the years when I can take my kids.
Day 1 - Taiwan Introduction and Numbers 1-10
In the 16th century, the Portuguese named the island “Isla Forma” which means “beautiful island” and it is indeed a pretty spectacular place! You have Taipei, a super dense and bustling capital with more mopeds you can count, and then you have the coast of Hualien that looks like a steeper version of Hawaii’s Napali Coast. And yet it’s about half the size of the state of Indiana! Here’s a rundown of our first day “visiting” Taiwan and its iconic landmarks. Heads up – this one has three videos because I don’t think my kids would have really understood what another country looked like without seeing with their own curious eyes!
- Watch – This 2-minute intro video by Lonely Planet does a great job showing pictures of the various landscapes of the island. The next video is slow-paced so my kids found it easier to comprehend. A travel host rides the Alishan mountain railway to see a breathtaking sunrise above a lake of clouds. You might want to skip the middle section if you have little kids (1:45 to 2:52) – they share about a tragic Taiwanese legend about two sisters. Lastly, you can’t visit Taiwan without checking out the famous Taipei 101 skyscraper. This travel vlog video captures the uber-fast ride up the elevator, the incredible views from the 89th floor (this dude was lucky for such a clear day too!), and finishes his Taipei 101 trip with a stop at one of my family’s favorite restaurants, Din Tai Fung. We watched up to the 5:40 mark but I ended up watching the rest on my own because I love a good food and travel video! 😂
- Watch (educational) – Here’s a great video introducing the numbers 1-10 in Chinese. I would say the first five minutes is plenty but you can definitely watch the rest if your kids want to learn how to count to 100!
- Learn – Download this free worksheet (you will need to have a TPT account but there are so many free resources that we love and will use in this Summer School at Home series) and spend a little time researching the country of Taiwan. The next thing we learned was Chinese numbers. Since I can speak Mandarin, my kids have picked up on how to say it but they don’t know how to write it. This set of worksheet is a great hands-on activity that teaches how to say, read, trace, and write numbers 1-10. We did pages 3-6 of the packet. Extra credit: Have your preschooler/kindergartner practice their 1-10 in English too!
- Read – The Fox family reads “Hey Taipei,” a super colorful book full of rhymes and adventures in Taipei. The read aloud is from 0:30 – 2:00. For those with older kids (ages 7-9), this book on Epic teaches young readers about Taiwan’s history and some interesting facts of daily life on the island.
- Play – Take the number lesson to the next level with this some fine motor skills activity. Chances are you have the supplies already…just need Legos and a baseplate.
- Craft – We made these simple paper lanterns to decorate our learning space (aka dinner table). But before step 2 (cutting), I had the kids draw a design/pattern so that their paper lanterns would look artistic and colorful.
Day 2 - Chinese New Year Tradition
Chinese New Year is typically celebrated late January or early February but I thought it would be a clever segue to learn about animals since there are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac.
- Watch – We started with a great introductory 8-minute video by Homeschool Pop. After watching the video, we figured out our zodiac animals. I am the pig (I do love to eat), my son is a dragon (a golden dragon in fact! A “golden dragon” means he was conceived and birthed in the same zodiac year), and my daughter is a sheep. So we looked up some videos about these animals and found the following:
- Learn about Sheep video by Homeschool Pop
- Were Dragons Ever Real? by one of our favorite science channels, Mystery Doug
- Watch (extra) – if you have a subscription to Noggin, your kids might like the “Ni Hao Kai-Lan” series that is available on Amazon Prime. I loved watching these with my 7.5yo when he was a toddler!
- Read – “Ruby’s Chinese New Year” read aloud is a darling story about a girl getting help from the different animals of the zodiac to deliver a gift to her grandmother. Just a tip I mentioned in the first ATWWK trip, you can mute the sound and pause the video and read each still as a page of the book. This is great for choral reading (you with your child in unison) or just your child if he/she is an advanced reader. On the Epic app, you can search “Chinese Zodiac” and there is a book on each “Year of the <Chinese zodiac animal>” that your kids might like. Since we actually had a physical book about dragons at home, we read “Dragons Loves Tacos.”
- Learn – Using our animals as inspiration:
- For my son (dragon) – We practiced math graphing by coloring in each block with this Dragon Taco worksheet set.
- For my daughter (sheep) – Even though this Little Sheet sight word game was a tad advanced for her, I simply said the word slowly and she repeated after me. She had fun looking for the hidden sheep. Next, we practiced counting using cotton balls with this free math worksheet.
- Play – Cleaning the house is a Chinese New Year tradition so guess what this mama told the kids?! Yup, we cleaned up the house and the kids earned red envelopes filled with a few dollars. If you need to a DIY Red Envelope printable, I’ve got you covered with this one I created a few years ago. We ran out of time but I had this fun “I Spy” game planned. This might be a good quiet activity for one child if you need to do some 1-on-1 with your other child.
- Draw – More lanterns because you can never have enough! We love Art for Kids Hub on YouTube and this particular directed drawing video was super doable for both my kids. Or if your child would rather color, here is a fun coloring sheet from Crayola.
Day 3 - Taiwanese Food
It is a FACT that the people of Taiwan LOVE food! I mean, have you been to a Chinese wedding banquet where you are served eight courses?! I am so thankful my kids love Chinese food so I can’t wait to take them to Taiwan’s famous Shilin Night Market! According to wikipedia, it “first opened in 1899, and it is now famous for its various eateries selling of authentic Taiwanese snacks.” Today’s lesson is shorter because I spent most of our time making a special treat I ate growing up…almond jello! More details in the “Cook” section.
- Learn – So there is a slight difference between Taiwanese and Chinese food. I wish there were more Taiwanese establishments out here. Thank goodness for Din Tai Fung and 85C bakeries. Since there really isn’t a kid-friendly lesson about Taiwanese food, I simply did informational reading and showed accompanying pictures from CNN’s article titled “40 of the Best Taiwanese Foods and Drinks.” I didn’t go through all 40 but just picked my favorite dishes (beef noodles, oyster omelet, bubble (aka boba) tea, gua bao, pineapple cake, scallion pancakes, stinky tofu (yes, despite a terrible name, it’s edible!), shaved ice, pepper cakes, and pidan tofu)
- Read – Today’s read, “The Empty Pot,” has nothing to do with Taiwanese food. In fact, it’s a story about a boy in China. But this is one of my kids’ favorite books and there’s a terrific lesson in the story – honesty.
- Watch – Taiwan is really famous for their Night Markets! When my husband and I visited back in 2012, we noticed most businesses don’t open up until much later in the day compared to 8/9am in the US and I think it’s because the hours of business in Taiwan tend to run into the evenings. This Eater video shows a young couple (with kids!) trying out all the different street foods. My foodie son and my mouths watered watching this! 😋
- Cook – Nothing says summer like jello but since we are in Taiwan, we are going to make almond jello! This super-duper recipe uses ingredients you probably already have and the recipe instructions are kid-friendly. Just remember to make this at least 3 hours before serving because it takes time to chill. Enjoy!
- No time to cook? No problem. While not Taiwanese food, these Trader Joe’s items will satisfy that Chinese food craving: Steamed Soup Dumplings, Gyoza Potstickers, Beef and Broccoli, Cha Siu Bao, and Wonton Soup. All available in their frozen aisle.
Freebie!
Apologies in advance parents! Your kiddos will be making some noise with this week’s craft freebie – a DIY Chinese New Year Rattle Drum! The drumming noise is made by rubbing your hands back and forth with the handheld stick drum. This particular craft will require adult participation. Supplies needed: printable, empty toilet paper roll, scissors, X-acto knife, washi tape or scotch tape, ruler, pencil, straw, thin string (I used baker twine), paperclip, and beads.
- Step 1 – Print the printable of the drum “skin.”
- Step 2 – Create a radial fringe by cutting towards the inner circle. I suggest cuts about 0.125-0.25″ apart.
- Step 3 – With your ruler, measure 1.5″ from one end of the toilet paper roll and mark with your pencil. Keep marking it again at 1.5″ from the end as you spin the roll until you have a marked ring around the roll. Adult – use the X-acto knife to cut out this 1.5″ cylindrical piece. This is the “drum.”
- Step 4 – Adult again – with the X-acto knife, make two X’s, one the bottom of the cutout and the other on top. Make the cut as wide as your straw so that it can pass through. On the left and right sides of the drum, use X-acto knife to puncture two tiny holes where we will feed through the string.
- Step 5 – Insert the straw through the top and bottom X’s.
- Step 6 – Cut two pieces of string, each about 4.5″ long. Feed one end of the string through the tiny hold. Use the paperclip as a tool to punch the thread through the roll. Double knot the end of the string that is “inside” the drum. On the other end, slide through a bead and create a knot around the bead so that it’s secure and the bead won’t slide down the string. FYI – before tying the knot tightly, make sure the bead is about halfway across the drum space. The bead is what makes the noise when it hits the “skin” (aka paper that you cut in Step 2).
- Step 7 – The last part is taking the drum skins and taping them to the drum using washi/scotch tape. You will have to work in sections so use short pieces of tape. And that’s it!
Now you are ready to celebrate Chinese New Year next year! We hope you had fun exploring this beautiful island with us. Draw your zodiac animal as your “stamp” in your passports! Now time for some rest before our next stop, alright mate? 😉