Have you ever wondered how we come up with our printable ideas at Lingo Buddies? While Pinterest offers endless inspiration, the real magic happens when I observe children at play and witness their learning in action.

As a former teacher, I’ve had firsthand experience guiding students through the process of learning a new language. Now, as a mom, I see things from a fresh perspective. This dual lens shapes the way I design our worksheets for learning Mandarin Chinese.

Let’s face it—many traditional worksheets rely on rote repetition, the classic “practice makes perfect” approach. But for children aged 3 to 8, this stage of exploration is about making sense of the world. The last thing I want is for their introduction to Mandarin to feel dull or disconnected. My goal is to bridge the gap between language learning and their everyday lives. It’s this connection—linking words to their world—that makes learning stick and fosters a lifelong love for Mandarin.

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.

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!