Spot of Sunshine

Chinese Valentine Themed Learning Shelf

Sunny

Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, here are some fun ways to incorporate Chinese in the learning this month!

Learning Chinese can be fun. By introducing it in a fun hands on way using the activities below, you’ll start enjoying Chinese with your kids.

Valentines day shelfie learning shelf themed learned montessori learn Chinese mandarin children kids toddlers preschool activities vday 兒童情人節活動 February

Learning Shelf Activities

I put together seven activities for this Valentine themed learning shelf. Descriptions of each are below:

Chinese Family Titles Matching Game

What better way to start a Valentines’ themed learning shelf than to learn names of family members in Chinese?

This low prep activity was inspired by CHALK Academy’s family members Valentine’s heart matching game. Since I already had heart doilies at home, I simply wrote the names of family members in Chinese for the matching game instead of using her printables (free on her site).

Although there are many titles for family members in Chinese, the ones I chose to use were ones that were the same two character to facilitate easier matching.

My daughter had a great time playing this game and so did my student. It got my daughter interested in writing these characters as well.

I used to struggle with feeling like I needed to make sure she really knew the characters before moving onto new ones. But I’ve come to realize through trial and error, and discussions with other parents like Betty, that learning through various types of natural exposure (books, having them up around the house etc) and spaced repetition is a much better way to increase her knowledge of characters.

Learn Numbers in Chinese & Counting Hearts Game

I created these Chinese number counting cards inspired by Teach Me Mommy this past summer and we’ve used them periodically to do math. I would say these counting cards are totally worth the time I put into them. If you’re looking for something to make to help your kids learn math, these are one of our favorite materials.

This was a great month to pull these out and include in our February learning shelf.

I bought two bags of plastic hearts from the dollar store for my daughter to count and place on the foam hearts. She is currently obsessed with these plastic hearts so I’m trying to come up with more activities to take advantage of her interest in them ❤️.

Montessori Bead Stairs

We were so thankful to be gifted these Montessori decanomial bead set this Christmas. These were highly recommended by moms in the Montessori FaceBook group Betty of CHALK Academy started!

I created this Montessori bead printable to help my daughter make associations between the number and the amount for our Valentine learning shelf. Montessori beads are wonderful for helping kids make that connection. It’s been really fun for me to observe her counting the beads. Of course, she gets distracted and we haven’t worked through them all in one sitting, but we’re getting there.

I printed these out and laminated them. I would recommend putting double sided tape on the beads on the print out to help the beads stay in place. Or else they end up rolling all over the place.

Heart 心 Radical Chinese Activity

I loved CHALK Academy’s heart radical felt activity. So I created one with heart doilies (Dollar Tree) and leftover foam heart stickers (Walmart) for our learning shelf.

My daughter loved placing the stickers onto the doilies to match the other doily with the full character. At first I wasn’t planning on having her use the foam stickers so we can continually use this activity the next few weeks, but she had other plans.

I used to get frustrated when things like this happen, but I’ve learned to take a step back and appreciate how she is engaging in the activity and what she brings to the activity.

I have to remind myself that it’s not about having perfect activities but rather engaging my daughter’s mind and giving her opportunities to learn through play.

Valentine’s Day Books

Since I wanted to focus on loving others and the love of God for this month, (also due to the fact that I could only find one traditional Chinese children’s book on Valentine’s day), these are the books I chose for this learning shelf:

Chinese Character Review Activity

We just recently started Sagebooks and so I created a simple printable to review the characters we’ve been learning. I simply ask my student and daughter to read aloud the character they recognize. Then have them place a heart on it. They both enjoyed this game.

I also created a template for you to write in the characters you want to review with your kids.

Guavarama also has a wonderful free printable with all the characters taught in each Sagebook along with other helpful supplemental materials.

Love Letters Activity

As a parent, I feel like the words I speak over my child really has an impact on her precious heart. Therefore I want to intentional to speak words that build her up and help her believe in who she is in her Heavenly Father’s eyes. So, I came up with this fun Valentine’s Day reading activity for our learning shelf.

I found these felt envelopes from Walmart for a dollar each. Then wrote: 愛心信封 (Àixīn xìnfēng/love envelope) on them with gold puffy paint. Nearly everyday, I write a short encouraging message on heart doilies for them to discover and read.

Since kids love opening envelopes and getting mail, I thought this would be a fun way to get them doing some reading practice and to affirm them. They both have been loving these, the six year old a bit more than my daughter.

How To Access Free Printables

To access the free printables used in the learning shelf, register below if you haven’t yet. You should get a confirmation email within a day or two. After confirming your email, you’ll receive a password to access the printables.

If you’ve already registered, simply sign into my printables page.

I hope this helps shorten your Valentine themed learning prep. If you give any of these activities a try or have questions or other ideas, please share with me below in the comments. I would love to hear from you. Please tag me if you do share these activities on social media. We would love to see how you and your kiddos are learning with these games!

More Valentines Themed Activities:

More Resources to Help You Have Fun Teaching Your Kids Chinese!

Don’t Do It Alone!

For more support and to commiserate with likeminded parents, please join us at Christian Parents Raising Bilingual Children in English & Chinese.

Other great FaceBook groups for parents raising bilingual kids:

Follow me on my FaceBook Page & my Instagram accounts where I share fun Chinese activities (@spotofsunshineChinese) we’re doing and encouragement for your heart rooted in Christ (@spotofsunshine).

Exit mobile version