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.

Who doesn’t love The Very Hungry Caterpillar 非常飢餓的毛毛蟲? Eric Carle’s classic story is a colorful adventure that’s packed with fun, food, and a little caterpillar who’s always hungry for more! The more I read it, the more I discover – from counting the days of the week, learning how to count, to even picking up some healthy eating tips! It’s no wonder kids can’t get enough of this book!

It’s all about making things relevant for your kids when it comes to learning Chinese or any subject. If your kids already love the movie Frozen, give them Frozen [冰雪奇緣] activities in Chinese. They will be eager to participate because they already love anything Frozen. It will be as easy as pie to introduce your kids vocabularies and Chinese characters from the movie. And next time you watch the movie together, ask them to find those words they learned for a little repetition practice. The same technique can be applied to other areas of interests. If your kids like dinosaurs, look for Chinese learning activities and games on dinosaurs.

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.

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.