This month, School-age 2 celebrated an East Asian festival called Mid-Autumn Festival. The children got the chance to explore it from viewing decorations within the center, seeing what real mooncakes looked like, and reading a Mid-Autumn Festival picture book that inspired creative, hands-on activities. Right before the festival day, the whole center was decorated with East Asian lanterns containing riddles related to one of the festival main symbols: the moon. A box of real mooncakes and relevant picture books were presented on the little table by the door. All these elements brought discussions forwards to the educators and parents. We heard the children ask their parents what they were, full of curiosity. To help them learn more and meet their inquisitions, we introduced a reading activity on the day of Mid-Autumn Festival. In respecting the children’s interest, we brought two books for the children to choose. Most of them were attracted by the illustration of the book The Story of Chang E. which invited the children to get to know the story of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang E.
After the book, the children engaged in creative activities and foam play to present something related to the festival. To enhance their interest to this cultural study, we brought more books introducing the festival from different perspectives, and a real mooncake to look at for inspiration. The children were excited to see a real mooncake and they carefully read a book talking about how to make the mooncakes. They used the materials they had to imitate the steps from the book. When they required more materials to extend their creativity, we provided googly eyes and mode tools. While the foam was fantastic, it didn't create impressions, so we planned a playdough activity the following day. We gathered all the materials needed, and introduced the steps required to make the playdough. Many of the children joined adding the ingredients into the bowl and then mixed them up with either their hands or tools. The result wasn’t ideal in the beginning as it wasn't the correct consistency, which made the children frustrated. Some lost their patience, while some stayed and tried to fix it. We checked the recipe over and over, and adjusted the amount of each ingredient. In the end, the playdough started to form, much to the children's delight. During the process, the children challenged themselves to make something from raw materials and solve all the problems they met. With playdough, the children had the opportunity of presenting their creative ideas of making mooncakes and moons in a more diverse way. Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival inspired other children to share about their own culture; for those who wished to, they were able to share through a culture introduction with the children in the program. The group was all engaged as they listened to their peers speak, full of curiosities, and the speaker was patient to answer a variety of questions asked to them. They learned about different cultures and how to respect them