Celebrating Chinese New Year at Sunny Daisy
- Feb 15
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 17
At Sunny Daisy Early Learning Centre, we love creating meaningful learning experiences that help children explore and understand the world around them. As part of our commitment to inclusive and culturally respectful learning, our children recently celebrated Chinese New Year through a series of engaging and hands-on activities led by our educator, Wendy.
Exploring Chinese Traditions Through Play
To introduce the festival, we created a special Chinese New Year display board. This visual learning space helped children discover how families in China celebrate the Lunar New Year, especially on New Year’s Eve.
Through discussions and storytelling, children learned about:
Making dumplings together as a family
Enjoying a reunion dinner
Doing a big clean before the new year
Decorating homes with red couplets
Watching traditional dragon dances
The children were especially excited to “paste” red couplets onto our display board themselves, giving them a real sense of participation and ownership in the learning experience.
Discovering Traditional Foods and Their Meanings
We also explored traditional New Year foods and what they symbolise:
Dumplings – representing reunion and togetherness
Fish – symbolising abundance and prosperity
Tangyuan (sweet rice balls) – representing unity and completeness
These conversations encouraged children to think about how food can carry cultural meaning and connect families together.
Learning About the Chinese Zodiac
As this year is the Year of the Horse, children were introduced to the Chinese Zodiac and learned about the different parts of a horse’s body in a fun and age-appropriate way. This supported vocabulary development while deepening their understanding of cultural traditions.
Experiencing Traditional Chinese Art
Children also participated in a traditional Chinese art activity called rubbing (a simple printmaking technique). This hands-on experience was a favourite! The process was easy to follow, and the finished artworks were beautiful. Many children were so engaged that they eagerly created more than one piece.
Through art, children developed fine motor skills, creativity and confidence — all while connecting with cultural heritage.
Singing and Speaking in Chinese
Music is a powerful way to support language learning. Together, we sang the well-known New Year song “Gong Xi Gong Xi / Happy New Year.”
From this song, children learned to say “Happy New Year” in Chinese. With the support and guidance of educators, they were able to imitate and practise the pronunciation. It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm and confidence growing as they explored a new language.
Supporting Belonging, Being and Becoming
At Sunny Daisy, we believe children learn best through meaningful, play-based experiences. Celebrating Chinese New Year provided opportunities for:
Cultural awareness and respect
Language development
Social interaction and collaboration
Creative expression
Confidence building
These experiences reflect our commitment to diversity and inclusion, and align with our philosophy of nurturing curious, confident and capable learners.
Through celebrations like this, children not only learn about different cultures — they also develop empathy, understanding and a sense of global belonging.
At Sunny Daisy, every child belongs, thrives and becomes their best self.
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