Our School-age 2 children are always doing activities to promote diversity and cultural awareness. With this in mind, we decided to celebrate Lunar New Year by making a dragon for a dragon dance. First, the children painted 75 paper plates of different sizes with yellow and red paint. When, Thomas D. asked, “Why are we using only red and yellow paint?” Then Will replied, “Oh because those are the colours of the China flag.” As the children were painting Emmett said, “Oh our family celebrates the Lunar New Year because my mom is Chinese and I usually will get a red envelope with money in it.” Ethan then added, “Oh my grandpa gives us the red envelopes also because he celebrates the Lunar New Year.” After three days the plates were finally done painting and then we decided to spend some time making the red envelopes. We used a template of an envelope to cut the pattern then the children folded and glued the corners. As the were doing that Thomas K. reminded everyone to leave one side open so that we can put something in the envelopes Lucy asked, “What do you think we will get in the envelopes?” Then Avery said, “Well I want money in mine.” Ella then added, “Well I want chocolate in mine.” Will B. requested, “Hey we should get the chocolate coins.” They children then decorated their red envelopes with gold gem and gold strips of paper. While they were doing that Ella said, “I know why we are using red paper because it takes away evil and brings good luck.” Then Wyatt added, “Well I can cover our whole front door at home with red paper to bring us a lot of good luck.” They next day the children made a request to make Lanterns for our celebration. So, they folded and cut paper then they added some decorations. The handles were attached and the lanterns were completed. So, it was time to start assembling the dragon. First, the paper plates were strung with spacers between them. Lucy and Avery decided to work on the dragon’s head. They decided to use two small paper cups for the eyes with red eyeballs. Then Ella who joined the girls to help said, “We need to make the teeth pointy and scary.” Ariah said, “I want to add black eyebrows.” Will B. then folded tissue paper to add to the mouth for the fire. The tail was added and the dragon was completed. On the day of the celebration, we listened to Dragon dance music and took turns in small groups to do the dance. While the children were dancing Lucy said, “I am bouncing the head around like a real dragon.” Ella was yelling, “I am going to show my moves because I love the music.” There was a lot of participation and excitement but the best part was when they were given their lanterns and red envelopes with a special treat in them.
This experience provided an opportunity for the children to work together and share ideas about their family’s culture and celebrations. It promotes togetherness and supports diversity in the classroom.
