Fun Activities to Celebrate Chinese New Years with Kids

The first day of the Chinese New Year falls on Saturday, January 28 this year and it's the Year of the Rooster. Also called the "Spring Festival" the new year celebrations and traditions are centuries old and last about 15 days. Kids of all ages anticipate and enjoy the celebrations, parades, and special treats during the festival. On Chinese New Years Eve, families get together to ring in the new year with a reunion dinner where homes are decorated in red and gold paper crafts, glorious lanterns, and intricate ornaments. Mandarin trees and plum blossoms placed in homes during the new year to bring good luck and fortune. Fireworks are set off throughout the night and red paper envelopes of money are given out as gifts. These are only a few of the many Chinese New Year traditions. To learn more about the Chinese New Year celebrations for kids, visit the "A China Family Adventure" website.

Here are a few fun activities you and your family can do to celebrate the Chinese New Year in your home this year:

Learn a bit of Chinese:

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin) and Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese)!  Means “Happy New Year!” and is the standard greeting throughout the holiday.

Have a countdown on Chinese by teaching your kids the numbers 1-10:

一 yī: one 二 èr: two 三 sān: three 四 sì: four 五 wǔ: five 六 liù: six 七 qī: seven 八 bā: eight 九 jiǔ: nine 十 shí: ten

Chinese New Year Crafts

Make your own Chinese lantern with the kids. Get some red and gold construction paper to create your own masterpiece. For step-by-step instructions, head on over to the China Family Adventure website.

You can also have lots of fun making fireworks on black construction paper using glitter glue!

Make a handprint rooster craft to celebrate the year of the rooster and teach your little ones how to say rooster in Mandarin: Gōngjī

Dress the Part

Don whatever red clothing you have — red is a lucky color in Chinese culture. Research the tales and legends of why red is the color of choice during the Chinese New Year. The stories will fascinate you and your children!

For more Mandarin lessons for kids, watch a free preview of Little Pim Mandarin for Kids! Comment below if you have any fun activities for Chinese New Years! Happy New Year or shall we say, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Holiday Crafts for Kids: Christmas Around the World

Looking for some fun holiday crafts for kids during Christmas Break? Christmas Around the World is always a fun theme to incorporate into your holidays. Kids love learning about other cultures and countries and how they celebrate the holidays this time of year. Not only are crafts from around the world fun, they're educational as well. What more can you ask for? Before you dig out the paper, glue, and scissors, do a little research. Decide with your children what countries you want to learn about and make crafts. There are all kinds of wonderful resources on the internet for you to use in your research. Once you decide on which countries you'd like to learn more about, you can get started on the crafts. Try some of these fun ideas.

Flags of the World Ornaments

Use real ornaments or make paper ornaments with the countries flags on them. For this activity, you can also head on over to your local craft store such as Michaels Arts & Crafts to buy supplies to paint your own flag ornaments. They will have plain ornaments that you can paint on. For a image database of the world flags and countries, visit this website from the CIA.

Traditional Holiday Crafts

During your research, find traditional decor or a tradition the country enjoys during the holidays and recreate it with crafts. For example, The Nutcracker is a traditional ballet done in Russia. Design and create your own nutcracker using things from around the house like milk jugs or cartons, paper rolls, Legos, or wood pieces. For ideas, check out this great post from Multicultural Kids on DIY Christmas Ornaments Inspired by World Cultures.

Holiday Nature Crafts

Many countries have "treasures" that come from nature that you can recreate at home. For example, Poinsettias come from Mexico. You can make paper or tissue paper Poinsettias after learning about Mexico. Christmas trees originally came from Germany. In the link above, there is a beautiful Mexican Felt Poinsettia you can make with the kids. Do you have any Christmas crafts that you do with your kids that you can share with the Little Pim community? There are tons of fun Christmas tree crafts to make! Share your traditions in the comments below.

Holiday Dress Crafts

Many countries have traditional clothing they wear during the holidays. Make paper dolls or clothes pin dolls with the traditional clothing worn from the country you researched.

Paper Crafts

Make crafts of the countries you researched out of paper and hang on a tree or decorate your home. Origami is a great idea for Japan, or make paper chains from Sweden. Let your imagination run wild!

Whatever crafts you decide to use for Christmas Around the World, you know your kids are having fun learning and creating great crafts! For more fun activities, print out our Winter Coloring Pages or fun Hanukkah Crafts for Kids.

Explore Winter in Ukraine with a Craft Based on this Clever Story

The Holidays are easily the most magical time of year for a child. Make it even more magical by exposing them to another culture, like that of wintry Ukraine! In Eastern Europe, Christmas is not heavily celebrated. Instead, it is the coming of Father New Years that brings anticipation to children everywhere. That doesn't mean that there's any less winter wonder! The Mitten is a common folktale for Ukrainian families to read to their little ones during the holidays. With such cold winters, it's no wonder that the main feature of this tale is a group of animals trying to stay warm!

• Explore Winter in Ukraine with this printable craft based on the classic Ukrainian children's story, The Mitten.

The story starts with an old man in the forest losing one of his mittens. As animals in the forest find the mitten, they scurry inside to enjoy its warmth. The story begins with small animals, such as frogs and badgers, and works its way up all of the way to a bear. In the end, it's a little mouse that "breaks the camel's back," so to speak; causing the bear to sneeze and all of the animals to fly out of the mitten.

Engaging your child with The Mitten:

• Watch this free video of the folktale, retold and illustrated by children's author Jan Brett.

• Read the story with your children.
• Ask them, "Why do you think the smaller animals let the bigger animals take up the room in the mitten, even when there were too many?" This will help connect your child's mind to the abstract concepts of the reading.
• Color and illustrate pictures using your kids' imagination of the different animals mentioned in the story. Learn how to say the names of each animal in different languages.
• Discuss Eastern Europe and its Holiday traditions; its climate, its animals, and the similarities and differences between our stories and theirs.

For more phenomenal winter crafts, stay tuned to the Little Pim blog! Happy Holidays!

Fun Hanukkah Arts & Crafts for Kids to Celebrate the Festival of Lights

It's the time of year for family, friends, and tradition. In the Jewish community, Hanukkah (Chanukah, or Channukkah) is known as the "Festival of Lights." It is an eight-day festival celebrated in November or December, commemorating the miracle of oil that occurred in the Holy Temple during the Maccabean Revolt in the 2nd century BC. This year, it begins on December 24th and ends on January 1st. Today, it is celebrated by Jews around the world and is filled with food, family, and presents. What a wonderful opportunity to teach your children about Jewish history, engage in meaningful crafts, and even teach them a little bit of Hebrew! Here are a couple of fun, meaningful activities to do with your children this Hanukkah!

Let's start with the proper holiday greetings:

"Hanukkah Sameach,” and "Chag Sameach," mean "Happy Hanukkah." However, "Chag Sameach," is closer in meaning to "Happy Holidays."

If you really want to impress, say "Chag Urim Sameach!” (urim means “lights”, so this phrase means "Happy Lights Holiday" or "Happy Light Festival").

Now that you know, let's go!

Activity:

Why Jews Celebrate Miracles

Teach your children the story behind Hanukkah, along with the basics of driedel play, with this interesting history. The video below is an excellent animation for kids depicting the struggle of Jews to maintain their way of life during a time of persecution; explaining the miracle of oil and how driedel play helped protect Jewish families during raids.

The Chanukah Story: Why Jews Celebrate Miracles

Craft:

Driedel, Driedel, Driedel, a Driedel Picture Frame!

After learning about the history of the driedel, lead your little ones in a craft that allows them make their own foam driedel in the form of a picture frame! This easy craft, adapted from one at Activity Village, includes a personal photo and allows kids to spell out whatever message they like. It will be a precious memory for, too, for many years to come!

Materials:

• Photo
• White & blue foam sheets (for the blue foam, one with a sticky back is best)
• Precut Foam Letters (preferably sticky back) in blue
• Scissors
• Non-toxic glue
• Age appropriate decorations of choice (glitter, rhinestones, stickers)
• Ribbon or hanger (Optional)

Instructions:

1. Cut a driedel shape out of the white foam that is big enough for your photo to sit on top of without overhang. Cut a blue rectangle that fits underneath the photo. Cut a small "picture frame" out of the blue foam that will sit over the picture.
2. Glue back of photo to the blue backing. Glue or stick the top frame to the photo. Place photo and backing on the driedel cut-out, sticking it to the foam with either the sticky backing or glue.
3. Help child spell out their message with the foam letters beneath the picture. Stick letters to the foam.
4. Allow child to decorate it to their liking, then (if using glue) wait for it to dry
5. Make a small hole and thread ribbon or an ornament hanger through the hole, if desired.

Can't wait for Hanukkah to roll around? Want your little one to impress the relatives at the family meal? At Little Pim, we've got you covered with a full Hebrew immersion program geared toward your little ones. December 24th is coming soon, so contact us today!

Fall Holidays From Other Cultures to Promote Bilingualism

One of the most magical aspects of the last three months of the year is the many holidays observed around the world.

From the time of the fall equinox until the New Year begins, there is an added element of excitement and sense of the fantastic, especially when there are children around. Make the most of the holidays by expanding your child’s bilingual education to include learning about the customs, holidays and fun that are part of the culture of your child’s second language.

When learning a second language, observing traditions and understanding celebrations, helps a child’s vocabulary grow as his well as providing a connection to the culture.

Here are two celebrations that will help your bilingual child better relate to his or her adopted or first culture.

• Día de Muertos — If your child is learning Spanish talk about Día de Muertos, a Mexican Holiday that coincides with All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints Day.  Some traditions include personal altars called ofrendas set up in homes. Visits to the graves of loved ones are featured. Gifts of sugar skulls and marigolds are presented along with personal items that once belonged to the loved one. To read more about Día de Muertos browse this informative article from Huffington Post.
• Chongyang Festival ( 重阳节 ) — is celebrated in China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan. This holiday, which began before the Han period, is still celebrated today. Also known as the Double Ninth Festival, this celebration has many traditions you can do with your family to learn more about the culture. One tradition is climbing a steep hill or mountain to symbolically defeat evil. The festival occurs on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. It is believed that the day contains too much yang and so brings trouble. You can read about some of the traditions, myths, and ceremonies, and the reasons behind them in this article.

There are many holidays, celebrations and traditions to be explored. Take some time to browse the internet for information on these.

• A good starting place for your search is to type into the search engine: _______ Holidays. (insert: Chinese, German, Portuguese, or the country of the language your child is studying).
• Select one holiday or festival and enter that name in your search engine, e.g., Chongyang Festival, for more information about the holiday.

You will soon have a long list of holidays, traditions, and adventures to extend your child’s learning.

For more information on how Little Pim can support and contribute to your child’s bilingual education visit our website and browse our blog posts today.

Bilingualism: Benefits of Learning Arabic

arabic-for-kids

There are many articles stating the benefits of being bilingual, but not many go into the benefits of being bilingual in a certain language. If you are teaching your child another language anyway, why not choose one that will improve their future career opportunities, such as Arabic? Here are a few ways that learning Arabic will enhance your child's future. Commonality

Arabic is the national language of 20 countries and is the fifth most spoken language in the world. By teaching your child Arabic, you will be giving her the ability to communicate with over 300 million people.  The majority of native speakers are concentrated in the Middle East, but with Arabic being the language of Quran, Muslims all over the world speak the language.

High Demand

With the increasing importance of the Middle East in international affairs, there is a growing demand for speakers of Arabic. Few Westerners ever attempt to learn the language, so there is little supply to meet the demand. Those who know the language are needed in many fields including journalism, translation, education, intelligence, and government service.

Financial Incentives

Arabic has been declared a language of strategic importance. Not only will many careers offer a hiring bonus or higher salary to those who speak it, but the National Strategic Language Initiative also offers scholarships and more learning opportunities, including study abroad programs.

Culture

The Middle East has a rich and fascinating culture. Be it the food, literature, music, or history, culture is a lot more interesting to explore in its native language. Arabic-speaking countries have also made significant contributions to medicine, science, and philosophy over the centuries. Much of this learning, along with that of the Roman, Greek, and Byzantine empires, has been preserved in Arab libraries.

Intercultural Understanding

Most of your child's exposure to Arabic culture is likely to be through negative media representations or one-sided stereotypes in films. These false representations can create feelings of mistrust towards Muslims and the Arabic people. With over 3.5 million people of Arab heritage residing in the U.S and over half of them reporting experiencing racial discrimination, teaching your child about their culture can potentially minimize conflict.

What are you waiting for? Get started teaching your child Arabic today! If you have any tips or experiences teaching your little ones Arabic, please comment below.

Differences Between Brazilian and European Portuguese

Portuguese is one of the most beautiful, romantic, Latin languages. As the sixth most spoken mother tongue in the world, Portuguese is an excellent choice for your toddler or preschooler.Speaking Portuguese, even if you have no ties to the language and culture, is a marketable skill that will serve your child well in the future.

As with English, the country where the language is learned and spoken makes a lot of difference in words, pronunciation, and grammar. The Portuguese spoken in Brazil is so different from European Portuguese that it is often referred to as Brasileiro, according to the website Lexiophiles.

There are many reasons for these differences and here are two of the most obvious ones.

Cultural Influence

In Brazilian Portuguese American Indian tribal languages donated many of the words for local foods, plants, and animals, as well as other objects. These words are unknown to speakers of European Portuguese.

Italian, French, and African languages such as Yoruba, have also found their way into Brasileiro. These add a significant contribution to the vocabulary of Brazilian Portuguese that does not exist in European Portuguese.

Intonation and Cadence

Brasileiro is more musical or lyrical than European Portuguese. Vowels are more open than those in European Portuguese and to English speakers, European Portuguese can sound somewhat muffled.  Brasileiro is syllable-timed like Spanish with equal stress on all syllables. And European Portuguese is stress-timed, with stressed and unstressed syllables in words, which is more familiar to native English speakers.

Little Pim’s language courses for young children make learning Portuguese an exciting, playful, and educational experience for your child. She will learn 180 Portuguese words and phrases to start her on a lifelong path of bilingualism. Browse our website for more information on Portuguese language learning for your child.

Incorporating Language Learning into the 2016 Olympics

Flash forward a couple weeks from today: It’s a sticky summer day, and to cool down and spend some quality time with your kiddos, you decide to go home, sprawl out on the couch, and watch the Olympic games. Your child becomes disengaged, or maybe your kid loves the games and is glued to the television. Either way, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to teach your children Portuguese and make them feel a deeper connection to Rio than the screen in your living room. We, here at Little Pim, recognize this language learning opportunity, and luckily, we offer lessons and flash cards in Portuguese that will make your son or daughter speak as well as Gabby Douglas flips in the time of a Usain Bolt 100 meter dash.

Sports Vocabulary

The most obvious vocabulary to introduce to your child during the Olympic games would be basic sports vocabulary, like the words for: ball, referee, pool, court, and field. To try to cultivate the strongest correlation between the words you are teaching and an image, it is probably smart to introduce the vocab as its corresponding image appears on the television.

Additionally, since the words you will be teaching them are about being active, you can make the language learning active. Play a game of catch while watching the 2016 games. When you have the ball, say the English word, and have your child say the Portuguese translation upon catching the ball. They can learn more about how to discuss playtime in Portuguese with the Little Pim “Playtime” lesson, which is available for online purchase. This online accessibility means they can sit on the couch and learn Portuguese on any device with the Olympics on in the background.

Geography

The Olympics has a record number of countries competing this year, so now more than ever the Olympics is a melting pot of cultures. This presents you with the ability to expose your child to a plethora of different countries. With that, you can teach them how to say each country’s name, main languages, and prominent religions in Portuguese. You can pull out a map and point at the country in question as you go along! If your family has roots in a certain country, this is a great time to introduce a bit of that country’s language too; Little Pim lessons could probably help you do so!

Counting

The number system is critical to any language, so it is a good place to start when learning Portuguese. As the shot clock winds down or the race is about to begin, have your son or daughter count down in Portuguese. They will be ready by New Years to count down to 12 AM in Portuguese!

Start by counting numbers 1-10 in Portuguese, then go backwards to start the countdown:

10 – dez

5 – cinco

9 – nove

4 – quatro

8 – oito

3 – três

7 – sete

2 – dois

6 – seis

1 – um

Stats

As each athlete’s statistics are plastered across your television screen, you can teach your little one the words for goal, assist, point, etc. This can be a particularly great exercise with little boys and girls who have already developed a passion for sports

(it is probably genetic) and enjoy memorizing statistics from player cards and a teams’ websites.

Personalize the Activity

If your son or daughter is especially fond of one sport that will be performed during the summer games, make sure to focus on the vocabulary relating to that sport. This will make the language learning of greater value in their eyes, and thereby more fun for them. For example:

Get Involved As a Parent

If you are fluent in Portuguese or have never heard a word of it, speaking the language with your kid makes it a group activity as opposed to a chore. Additionally, if your whole family wants to extend your exposure to Brazilian culture beyond language learning, please refer to a post coming out soon about fun activities infused with Brazilian culture that you can do right at home.

Vocab Reinforcement

For the words to stick, a child needs to become familiar with them by hearing them a number of times. On your way to a mall or weekend get-away, you can review the Portuguese vocab in a fun trivia-like format. The Little Pim flash card set could serve this purpose really well!

Teach Love and Kindness

Sports have the power to transcend countries’ borders, racial divides, and social differences. That power is what makes the Olympics such a beautiful thing to watch, especially today when these issues run rampant in our society. Teaching your child the English words for unity, equality, fairness, and sportsmanship, for example, is a powerful action in it of itself. Imagine the power of teaching them these words in yet another language, like Portuguese.

By teaching your child another language at a young age, you accomplish many things. You make them smarter, you differentiate them from other children their age, and you ultimately make them more valuable to our society and a potential employer. Above all of those things, you make them sensitive to and connected to another country, culture, and way of life. In learning a new language, they are learning to respect differences instead of hate them, just as sportsmanship teaches. Language learning is powerful. Sports are powerful. Rio is the perfect opportunity to combine sports with language learning, an action that could have an amazingly powerful impact on your child.

P.S. It will also be fun!!

3 Ways to Make Bastille Day As Much Fun As the Fourth of July

Bastille Day is upon us! This July 14th presents a perfect opportunity to get you and your young ones excited about language learning through some French culture. While the topic of the French Revolution may seem like a dry subject to your average 0-6 year old, (or even to you), here are some great tips about how to make this another fun-filled summer holiday:

1. Build A Fort

The French working class stormed the Bastille, the prison, to gather ammunition stored there.

Grab your kids and build a fort with lots of blankets and cushions and voilà you have your own make-believe Bastille. Make the password to enter to the fort a French word to incorporate some vocabulary. If the kids are having fun, you can quickly grab some French-inspired snacks to munch on inside the fort, like Brie cheese and crackers or macaroons. If you have the time and want to try your hand at some more serious preparation and cooking, check this these French recipes via Betty Crocker. This is the perfect Bastille Day activity if it’s raining outside or if you want to escape the sweltering heat.

2. Go Down To the Tennis Courts (or Out to the Sidewalk)

Soon after the storming of the Bastille, the members of the Third Estate, (working class men), were locked out of the Estates General meeting, which was supposed to be an assembly of all the French classes. They retreated to the nearby indoor tennis court and took an oath that demanded a new constitution.

If your family is on vacation or has access to a tennis court, bring the kids with you and have them make up their own game with the balls and/or racquets. This game can act as their very own constitution for the “republic of the tennis court.” Even if there isn’t a tennis court around, you can use some chalk to draw a small court on the sidewalk. This would be a great time to introduce your kiddos to some French sports vocabulary. Also, if the game is more active, you can have your kids “warm up” with some hops and jumping jacks, counting out loud how many they are doing in French. The “I Can Count” lesson from our French for Kids program (Vol II, Video 6) can help refresh their French counting skills.

3. Have a Picnic and Mini Parade

On Bastille Day in France, there is a huge parade along the Champs-Élysées.

Picnic in the park and have the walk back be a mock parade. You can get the little ones excited by breaking out the red, white, and blue attire from the fourth of July- luckily American and French national colors are the same. For some red, white, and blue food options to bring on the picnic, refer to the previous Fourth of July blog posting! As you are picking out the clothes or preparing the food, you have the perfect chance to teach the kids the French words for various colors. Additionally, the Little Pim flashcards or coloring sheets are a great post-picnic activity in the park.

What’s Happening in NYC?

Here in our home of NYC, there are some more official celebrations all around the city. For more information visit TimeOut's"Bastille Day in NYC" guide.

We, here at Little Pim, hope you and your whole family make great memories this Bastille Day while also getting a taste of France’s lively culture. We hope we can join you in helping your children experience more of the world!

Easter Celebrations in Russia

Spring is beginning to bring forth its many blooms, and children everywhere are enjoying more seasonal temperatures. We also just celebrated the holiday that marks the start of Spring – Easter. Americans who celebrate this special holiday may attend church services on Easter Sunday and participate in Easter egg hunts, decorating eggs, attending parades, and/or visiting the Easter bunny. But there is one country just getting ready to celebrate this big holiday. Russia’s Easter will be on May 1st.  Let’s take a look at Russian Easter celebrations. Orthodox Easter Services

For the Russians, Easter is a highly religious celebration. A church service is held the evening before Easter that begins just prior to midnight and lasts into the wee hours of Sunday morning. The large churches are filled with church attendees who participate in the celebratory service. Thousands of candles are lit and fill the beautiful church.

Food

The Russian people enjoy a scrumptious Easter breakfast when the church service is completed. Three popular Easter dishes include Kulich, Paska, and colored eggs. Kulich is a Russian sweet bread which looks like a vanilla cupcake with white frosting and sprinkles. Paska is a “rich and very sweet cheese pudding." The great feast lasts for seven days as people visit family, friends, and neighbors.

Children’s Activities

Russian children enjoy Easter with games and fun, just as American children do. One such game the Russian children play involves Easter eggs. Children try to crack each others eggs as they roll them down a hill. Candy is often used in the game, as well. The Easter eggs are beautifully decorated and painted. Easter morning begins with children visiting neighborhood homes handing out Easter eggs.

Social Activities

The Russian celebration of Easter involves some interesting social activities. One such custom begins the evening before Easter during the night service and lasts forty days; people recite a specific greeting to one another. The first person will say “Khristos voskres!", meaning Christ is risen!  The next person is supposed to reply, "Voistinu voskres", meaning truly He is risen! Traditional hugging and kissing three times will follow the greeting. This is called the "kiss of peace".

Also, if following the older Russian customs, people will give gifts to the poor, orphaned, and those in hospitals or prisons.

Learning about how other countries celebrate major holidays is one way in which children can be more culturally aware; this inspires a love for learning the language of that culture. As you and your child embrace new cultural experiences and learning a new language, Little Pim is right alongside you with products to enhance immersion learning. Try a free demo video to teach your child Russian with Little Pim today!