Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day) is a very important holiday in China and Taiwan and Chinese ethnics in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. It’s a holiday that honors the dead relatives and ancestors. In a way it’s similar to Memorial Day in the US, but instead of commemorating those that served in the military, it commemorates those that passed away in your family. On Qingming Festival, families all gather at the graveyard to sweep the tombs of their ancestors and deceased relatives.

This mooncake papercraft is the perfect introduction to the world of origami!  I made this origami with my nephew of 3 and half and it was a piece of cake for him or mooncake I would say.  It’s definitely the easiest mooncake paper craft you can make with preschoolers and kindergarteners.  Not to mention that they get to learn about the Chinese character “month/moon” [月 | yuè] while they are at it!

Valentine’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to teach children about love!  Their love for grandparents, parents, teachers, playmates, siblings, relatives, friends, and even pets!  Not only that, your children can learn how to express their love by making something special with their hands.

How do you teach your kids kindness? Whether you are a parent, a school teacher, a homeschooling teacher or all of them, kindness is such an important practice that we have to instill in our little ones. But the question is, where do we start? After speaking with other parents and educators, we created these kindness activities to encourage more acts of kindness and compassion. You can use them to teach your kids at home or in a classroom. These kindness activities are perfect for preschoolers, kindergartners and first graders.

We are kicking off October this year with a visit to the local pumpkin patch!  This weekend we went to Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch.  Every year they set up a beautiful pumpkin patch in an empty lot next to a small park.  It’s beautifully decorated with a wide range of pumpkins, scarecrows, witches, families of skeletons (with pets, too), and many more.