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Studying Ancient China and need ideas please.


hsmom
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If this is for your 7 year old, look for 'The Warlord's' series by Virginia Pilegard. There are several books, all are about different ideas of math or inventions that were invented in ancient China, and tell a little story of how they could have been discovered. At the end of each book is a tie-in activity.

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Magic Tree House Research Guide

bellerophon or dover coloring books

eyewitness book

check out what Netflix has to offer

 

 

I can come back and edit later but I keep a hefty list of folktales/myth and fairy tales because I just adore them on so many levels and use them in our homeschooling a lot.

 

And I know I have a ton of Chinese ones. :001_smile:

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My favorite Ancient China thing I did with the kids when they were little was make silk. I got a silk kit that came with a bunch of silkworm cocoons, clamp with a loop to thread the silk through, and a niddy-noddy to wind the silk as it came off the cocoons. That was fun! I still have the silk wound on the niddy-noddy somewhere - never did get around to washing and spinning it into thread. ;)

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Look in the side bar. Address in siggy. There is one fun book on there with activities, plus picture books, etc. The books are on the 'notes' page. Most are also on my Amazon list, which is easier to read.

 

Laura

 

 

Wow, thank you. It all looks wonderful and gives me a great place to jump in at.

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My favorite Ancient China thing I did with the kids when they were little was make silk. I got a silk kit that came with a bunch of silkworm cocoons, clamp with a loop to thread the silk through, and a niddy-noddy to wind the silk as it came off the cocoons. That was fun! I still have the silk wound on the niddy-noddy somewhere - never did get around to washing and spinning it into thread. ;)

 

cool. do the worms die? or do the respin?

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.. before the silk is unwound.

 

Laura

 

I did not know silkworm were a food product in Asia. Thanks for posting that. Interesting read. I'm not gonna eat them, so we would still pass. :)

 

My dh is a big hunter, but we aim to utilize the animal well. Don't think I could make that work with these little guys.

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My list of Folklore for China:

 

Tye May and the Magic Brush

The Five Chinese Brothers (sometimes the title of versions of this say six or seven)

The Sleeper

anything written by the author Demi

How the Ox Star Fell from Heaven

The Magic Boat

Sweet and Sour

The Dragon's Pearl

Yeh-Shen A Cinderella Story

The Moon Dragon

The magic Leaf

Tikki Tikki Tembo

A Grain of Rice

The Princess and the Sun Moon and Stars

Treasure Mountain

The Enchanted tapestry

Wishbones

The Magic Wings

The Jade Stone

The Junior Thunder Lord

High on Hill

Lon Po Po

The Terrible Nung Gwana

The Emperor and the Kite

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Oh....my sensative ones couldn't handle that.

 

If your kids let the silk worms live to become moths, they would have wished they had made the silk instead! The worms have been breed for so long to produce that silk, they have lost the ability to fly and can barely walk. Silk moths are sad, sad creatures.

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If your kids let the silk worms live to become moths, they would have wished they had made the silk instead! The worms have been breed for so long to produce that silk, they have lost the ability to fly and can barely walk. Silk moths are sad, sad creatures.

I just learned that from the link. So sad. :(

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Tales of a Chinese Grandmother and Tales of a Korean Grandmother were favorites here.

 

Others we have read in past and liked:

 

The Paper Dragon, Marguerite Davol

 

Nature Company: Ancient China

 

The Treasure Chest: A Chinese Tale, Rosalind Wang

 

The Junior Thunder Lord, Laurence Yep

 

The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient China, Fisher

 

Ancient China Treasure Chest

 

Confucius: The Golden Rule, Russell Freedman

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Chinese New Year is quickly approaching (Jan. 23rd). There's lots of fun to be had with that! Are there any parades or festivals for the new year in your area?

 

 

From Wiki:

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian (Chinese: 年; pinyin: nián). Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the colour red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.[6]

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cool. do the worms die? or do the respin?

 

When you get the kit, the pupae have been pre-killed inside the cocoons - they are not alive anymore when you get them. When you boil them and unwind the cocoons, the thread comes off in a single strand for each cocoon, and the (already dead) pupae are left.

 

I think way back when they used to let the moths emerge before harvesting the silk, but then the strand is broken in multiple places, making it much harder to wind into thread.

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Why don't you make some dumplings or sweet rice balls for the Chinese New Year day? You can google "Chinese dumplings" for the recipe. No Chinese New Year will be complete without this food.

I make them regularly, twice a month or more.

 

:iagree:

We just brought a few dozen home from my girl friends house. We just finished eating some right now. YUM!

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I have been looking up all these wonderful ideas.

 

Now on movies and such I found only a couple on Netfilx, but Blockbuster had tons more. I am really like Blockbuster movie pass I go through dish network. There is a lot that Netflix doesn't have and it is wonderful. Just want to pass that on.

 

Well last night we had a wonderful meal and used chopsticks. We came to the conclusion that if we had to use them everyday for all meas we would loose tons of weight.

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When you get the kit, the pupae have been pre-killed inside the cocoons - they are not alive anymore when you get them. When you boil them and unwind the cocoons, the thread comes off in a single strand for each cocoon, and the (already dead) pupae are left.

 

 

 

Did I miss the place to get this kit? This is right up kiddo's alley.

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Did I miss the place to get this kit? This is right up kiddo's alley.

 

I got mine at a wool & sheep festival, but I think you can get them at many high-end yarn stores or "fiber-arts" shops. The kind that might also sell wool roving and perhaps spinning/weaving supplies, and eschews acrylic.

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