Lesson Extensions for the Paper Lantern Activity
Appreciating New Year Celebrations in Montessori Preschools
Oct 31, 2009
Folding activities develop motor skills and engage the senses. Folding skills are also employed in creative activities. One such activity is the Paper Lantern craftwork. This paper folding activity lends itself to various extensions in the Montessori preschool. Following the child’s interest, a range of cultural activities can be planned, for example, to encourage the child to explore and appreciate the various aspects of the world that he or she lives in.
Lanterns for Chinese New Year
The paper lantern project ties up nicely with Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, which is a fifteen-day celebration marking the start of the Chinese lunar calendar, usually in January or February. The Lantern Festival marks the end of the New Year festivities. On this fifteenth night, when the full moon is first sighted for the year, brightly lit lanterns add to the festivities.
For preschools that do not celebrate Chinese New Year, teachers can still connect the paper lanterns made to the festival by using the Chinese New Year pictures from the Montessori Asian Continent Folder. This is a folder with pictures of people, plants and animals as well as landmarks associated with the continent. The pictures used should be rich with detail, allowing children to imagine the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the celebration.
Some other Chinese New Year activities that can be organised to support the lantern making activity include:
- sharing stories on why and how lanterns were first used during the New Year celebration in ancient China, well over 2000 years ago. Children are encouraged to compare the practices of the past with those of the present.
- guessing lantern riddles, a traditional activity connected with the Chinese Lantern Festival. Children 5 years and above begin to enjoy riddles and would appreciate this exercise. Children with literacy skills write riddles on slips of paper. They attach these onto the paper lanterns they have made. They then see who can get the right answer for their riddle.
New Year Celebrations Around the World
Children who show an interest in the Chinese New Year festivities can go on to find out more about New Year celebrations in different parts of the world. A set of pictures capturing the different New Year customs and traditions can be prepared. These may include:
- The fireworks display with the Sydney Opera House in the foreground
- The dropping of the New Year ball in Times Square, New York City
- The exchange of glücksbringers (chocolate and marzipan candies shaped in the form of four-leaf clovers, pigs, gold coins and horseshoes) in Austria
- The eating of 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight in Spain and Mexico
- Dressing up like fishes and dancing during the Ofirima, a Nigerian masquerade
Children discuss the celebrations and place the pictures on the puzzle map of the world, reinforcing their map knowledge.
New Year Celebrations Throughout the Year
Older children who are developing an interest in the passage of time may be curious as to why Chinese New Year is not celebrated on 1 January. This can lead to a project through which children discover that some cultures adopt different methods of measuring time, which in turn affects their New Year date.
Children can create a timeline to track the different dates on which different cultures begin their new year. In Thailand, for example, New Year falls on 13 April. The exercise allows them to discover that some of these dates are not fixed, and change from year to year. This is true for the Chinese, Muslims and the Indians. Suitable pictures are collected and attached to the timeline to provide visual information on the celebrations. Teachers when facilitating the discussion of the pictures can help the children to pick out similarities and differences in the celebrations.
In short, folding a paper lantern can lead to a range of activities that centre on the theme of new year celebrations. Such lessons can highlight cultural diversity as well as similarities across cultures. Through these activities, children appreciate how people live and celebrate in different parts of the world, as well as in earlier times. This knowledge plants within the children the seeds of understanding, acceptance, respect and tolerance, which are some of the aims of the Montessori cultural curriculum.
 |
 |
