China and Pandas

Our study on China and pandas dragged out, as there has been much going on, but these were good topics, I believe for many reasons, and I like how the two of them are so related, too, since pandas are inhabitants of China.

I believe China is an important topic, seeing as about one of out of five people on the planet live there, having the largest population.  It also happens to be where the U.S. imports a large number of its goods.  I remember William was just two or maybe younger when he recognized the "Made in China" stamp on things.

We love pandas, and I've always found them a very interesting animal upon which I've spent many hours of my life meditating.  I find it fascinating that they clearly chose—as a group in the distant past—to eat almost entirely vegetarian, despite belonging to the Carnivora order because of their flesh-eating digestive system, including their teeth.   Ninety-nine percent of their diet consists of bamboo.  I also find it interesting that they are black and white.  I spend a great deal of my free time meditating upon things in nature—animals, plants, minerals, and other—and gleaning spiritual lessons from them.

We spent time watching short documentaries on pandas and China, reading panda facts from the Internet, and reading books about China. 

A great link on quick panda facts is found on the OneKind.org website.

I downloaded two new books on China for Kindle:

These were both excellent books.  They're informative without being too lengthy and boring.  They also contain colorful pictures.  The DK Readers book also included a few Chinese words, including the word for panda.  These will be useful for years to come, and I'm glad I added them to our Kindle library. 

If you're a long-time reader, you may remember when William wrote his name in Chinese five years ago.  I got the kids to do that again.  I printed William's first name this time.  Trusten's name was not in the database, which is no surprise.  I've never known anyone else with his name.  So I printed his middle name Shiloh.  He got frustrated when he got to the last character, and he didn't even want me to help him some days later finish it.  He was that upset about it.  I did help Olivia with hers.

I used the website USDiner.com.

We enjoyed a song about pandas called "My Name is Panda."  I got the lyrics from Kids' Music Town.

We listened to the song and enjoyed panda pictures on Youtube.

I used Activity Village for printables on both China and pandas.  There are also plenty of craft ideas there for both topics.  I printed sheets for the boys to write what they learned after we read the panda facts, some stationary for William on which to write letters, "Learn to Draw a Panda," and some Chinese-themed coloring sheets.  I printed goldfish for Trust and Liv and a beautiful landscape scene for William.

 Stationery for letters to friends Kaia and Young

 Trusten doesn't "run-on" but rather runs together.  Still working on that. ;-)

I guided Liv to draw hers (but she wrote her name entirely by herself).  We did these directly on the floor, so the shaded part is streaked.

The kids' Aunt Meg (my beloved baby sister) bought William an origami manual and paper when Elizabeth was born, and we learned that such paper folding really originated in China and is there called zhezhi.  The zhezhi peace dove is not included in the origami manual, but this is what William created using a Youtube video for instructions.

I also used this opportunity as a first time to make my very own spring rolls!  I was absolutely thrilled at how well they turned out, and we all enjoyed them.  I made them twice!  I made a lot of Chinese food over a week's span.  I also found the perfect recipe for chow mein.  

Top left is Chinese fried rice with broccoli instead of peas with store-bought Annie Chun's chow mein; top right is homemade spring rolls and homemade sweet and sour sauce; bottom left is fried rice made by Nathan using some black "forbidden rice" that was grown in China; and bottom left is leftover fried rice, fresh spring rolls and sweet and sour sauce, and some very delicious homemade chow mein.

I managed to be able to surprise the kids with some Panda treats in both raspberry and licorice flavors.  They love those things, but it's not very often they get them.  Usually when they pick out their weekly special treat at the grocery store (daily treats are a different bag), they pick something from the deli.  

I have no earthly idea why the raspberry says "new," because they've been around for years.

William has learned a lot about Chinese history in his Mystery of History books, especially over the last few months, so these activities and more learning were great supplements.  Pandas are just fun and interesting, and they're the symbol for endangered species.  I'm glad we spent some special time talking about these two topics.  

Tonight is the new moon, so I am due for a new month post. 

Until next time...