Mini-Book 7- 動物護照 (Animal Passport)

動物護照 (Dòng Wù Hù Zhào, Animal Passport)- I'm branching out a bit and trying something new.  This is actually a project that I have wanted to do with my own kids (ages 5 and 7).  It is a "passport" listing some of the animals at the zoo.  The book is designed to reinforce some of the animal names they already know (but haven't learned to read yet) and to introduce some new words.  It is not a teaching book; any learning the kids do will be a result of hearing the words over and over again as they are used while at the zoo.

Inside the book are 14 animals names and the corresponding animal stickers.  As the kids travel through the zoo, the animal stickers can be placed next to the correct Chinese name.

HAVE FUN!

Notes on Printing-

• Printing a file makes 2 copies of a passport.
• The passport is simply much more cooler if the cover (first page) is printed in color on white card stock.
• When you print the animal stickers, print them on Avery Shipping Labels 48863.  They can be found in the office section of large retailers.
• After printing the animal stickers, cut the stickers into sections of 2*2 pictures so that the sections fit the dimensions of the passport book and you can staple the stickers into the book.

Click here for a Video Tutorial.

動物護照- traditional characters with 注音符號

動物護照- simplified characters with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ pīnyīn) 
Animal Stickers
 

Travel Bingo

Here's a way to practice Chinese in the car- Travel Bingo!  Print of one of the sheets below and then have your child look for the various items on his/her sheet.  Reminder him/her to call out the items as he/she sees them so you can verify it's correct.  Then let your child cross it off her sheet.  Try to find three in a row (up and down, across, or diagonal) or try to find everything on the sheet.

Here's several options for checking off the items.

• Reusable:
• Place sheet on a small magnetic board and use large (kid-safe) magnets to check off various items.
• Place sheet inside a plastic coat and use a dry erase marker.
• Got an iPad?  Save your Bingo card as a pdf file and then open it on your iPad using the app "pdf-notes."  It's free!
• One-Time Use:
• Check it off with a marker directly onto the sheet.

Travel Bingo- Blank  Draw in your own items to be found around town.  Don't forget to include the Chinese characters at the bottom (This is good exposure even if your child isn't reading yet!) and the pronunciation guide if they have learned that.

Stuck for ideas?  Check out the examples below:
Travel Bingo-Sample with 注音符號
Travel Bingo- Sample with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)

Rhythms and Tones

Rhythms and Tones- This is a wonderful book to expose kids who are learning Chinese as a second language.  It includes a CD with 24 songs that reinforce learning things such as:

• How to say hello/goodbye,
• Using tones,
• Asking basic questions,
• Titles of family members,
• Actions,
• Body parts,
• Numbers and measure words,
• Animals,
• Common phrases,
• Food,
• Radicals and how they look in characters,
• Weather,
• Asking for and saying the time,
• Days of the week,
• Seasons,
• Colors, and
• Chinese holidays.

At the back of the book, the piano music for each song is provided as well as a dictionary of the characters covered in the book.  This book uses mainland pinyin and simplified Chinese characters.  I should also point out that is available at the Iowa City Public Library; The title is Rhythms and Tones and the call number is j495.1834.

LinguPingu Chinese/English Picture Dictionary

      LinguPingu- This picture dictionary is a favorite of my kids.  Their favorite feature of the app is that they can easily switch between Chinese and English and hear the item being labeled in each language.  I like this concept because it seems to emphasis that both languages are important, which is important if you want to encourage bilingualism rather than stressing one language over another.

The lite version (free) has two pages:  animals and transportation.  You can upgrade to include seven other pages:  food, body parts, farm, toys, nature, clothes, and apartment. 

KittyWords Chinese Picture Dictionary

·         KittyWords- is a free picture dictionary.  It has seven different scenes:  jungle, seaside, pond/field, farm, ocean, African savanna, and forest.  Kids can tap on the screen to discover the Chinese word for the things pictured.  As a bonus, the simplified character for the word is presented as it is read.  There is also a quiz setting that allows kids to test their skills with new words.