Exploring China

On our trip around the world, we are attempting to sweep through Asia.  It is such a diverse continent, that we chose just a few countries to look at in depth: China, India and Israel.  I just keep reminding myself that our purpose it to provide them an overview.  It is so hard to not try and learn about everything.  :sigh:

The boys loved reading books about China and we wrapped up our time there with a special dinner.

In preparation for this dinner, the boys decorated their own paper lanterns.

This certainly is not everyday fare (I was in the kitchen cooking for way to long), but the food was yummy!

I even tried baking the egg rolls intead of frying them.  They were still tasty!

We read the delightful book, The Story of Chopsticks and practiced with some of our own.  Thanks to the tip from a friend, we tied them together which helped the boys actually manage to use them to get food up to their mouths!

Some of our favorite books:

Adventures of the Treasure Fleet: China Discovers the World ~ This was Xander's favorite book.  I have to admit that it was mine too.  The boys are obsessed with maps and loved being able to track the Treasure Fleet's journey on the inside cover map.  I had no idea that China was preparing to colonize long before Great Britain ever set out to become a colonial empire.  It was a great weaving of story with additional facts at the bottom of each page!

Tikki Tikki Tembo~ This classic book has now become a favorite in our house.  I checked it out from the library several years ago and there wasn't a whole lot of interest.  I wonder if it's an age thing since Treyton still isn't that interested.  The bigger boys love to recite Tikki Tikki Tembo's name in its entirity!  Fast, slow, quiet, loud. They basically just love to twist their tongues over it.  And they giggle and protest profusely when I give them looooooooooong nonsense names like Tikki's!

A Panda's World~ The boys L.O.V.E.D. learning about panda bears.  In fact on a recent trip to the zoo, they squeeled for joy when they spotted bamboo and kept insisting that our zoo must have panda's since their was ample food sources for them...  They also loved reading Panda and Polar Bear which even Treyton asked for over and over again!

The Paper Dragon ~ We found this at my mom's house along with some missionary books from China.  The boys loved the pull-out pages and delightful drawings.

You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Great Wall of China!~ Xander really enjoyed reading this book and both boys loved making a long wall out of blocks. 

Hudson Taylor: Friend of China ~ Learning about China opened up a lot of opportunities to talk about idol worship and the fact that many people have never heard of the one true God.  I actually found that we had to be really careful in limiting books with positive portrayals of kids worshiping idols and found this book to be a good balance...

The Silk Princess ~ This was a great story about the discovery of silk.  The illustrations are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!! The boys have been to the fabric store enough with me to remember the dragon brocades and the feel of silk.