Home Educator Mom Blog
Here’s a great and simple recipe to spice up your favorite Chinese dumplings, sushi or other Asian dishes.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons low-sodium tamari soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (brown or white)
3 tablespoons mirin (Japanese seasoning wine)
Instructions:
Mix all the ingredients together.
Makes about 1/2 cup
For smaller portions, use the 1:1:1 ratio.
Recipe from The Taste for Living World Cookbook by Beth Ginsberg and Mike Milken
Last week our kiddos learned about John the Baptist and Jesus’ baptism in their Sunday School classes. To help reinforce the lesson, we made some egg carton locusts or grasshoppers. Now they all remember what John the Baptist ate. (Adult supervision needed with exacto knife and glue gun)
Materials:
| Egg carton Tempera paint Pipe cleaners or chenille stem Wiggly eyes Glue Exacto knife or other sharp object for poking holes Hole puncher (optional) Glue gun (optional) |
Instructions:
| 1. Cut a 3-cup strip from a paper-type egg carton, paint it green and let dry. It’s better to have a little “ledge” on each side of the egg cartons for attaching the legs.2. Bend pipe cleaners to form the grasshopper legs. There’s a couple of ways to attache the legs. You can either hot glue them down or use a hole puncher to punch four holes and stick the pipe cleaners through the holes and twist them in place.
3.Now cut two holes (I cut two “X”) in the head and poke a pipe cleaner through for the antennae. |
Painting the grasshoppers.
Painted grasshoppers set aside for drying.
Enjoy!
I got this idea from Pinterest: Motherhood on a Dime.
I’d like to introduce to all the HomeEducatorMom.com readers our first contributing writer, Renee Sanford.
Renée Sanford has been married to her high school sweetheart, David, for 30 years. They are the parents of three grown and married children and two teens and blessed with six grandkids. Renée has a passion for encouraging mothers at every stage—in an article, at a conference, or over a cup of coffee or tea. Renée is the co-author (with David) of How to Read Your Bible and the notes for the Living Faith Bible. |
Please help me welcome Renee!
To help us celebrate Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year, we made some fun paper lanterns. But before I show you how to make this craft, here’s a brief history of why lanterns were part of the celebration. There are many different versions and here is one from my friend Eva:
| On the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration, paper lanterns were used. There were no street lights or electricity, and thus, lanterns were used as the only light source. Likewise, back in the days, all the young women were not allowed to go outside in the evenings to socialize except for this last day. Lots of love stories came from this holiday. Young girls using their lanterns gathered at the night market in hopes of meeting their prince charming. Since then, lanterns were a part of the Chinese New Year celebration. |
Materials:
Colored construction paper
Scissors
Glue or tape
Pipe cleaners or chenille stem
hole puncher
Streamers
Instructions:
Fold the construction paper in half the long way or the “hot dog way” and starting at the fold line, make a series of cuts about ½ inch to 3/4 inch apart. Be sure to stop at about 1/2 inch from the edge. In other words, you don’t want individual strips.
When the cutting is done, open up your paper and now put your lantern together by gluing or taping the ends of your paper together the short way or the “hamburger way”
Here’s a lantern with the ends taped together.
Now you can spice up your lanterns with colorful streamers and a handle. I punched two holes on the top of the lantern and added a pipe cleaner for the handle. I hope you and your kids will enjoy this simple craft!
To get a brief history of Chinese New Year, click Chinese New Year 2013: Year of the Snake.
As we finish celebrating the New Year, I am preparing the family to celebrate another one, Chinese New Year. I love the American New Year, but I am also very fond of the Chinese New Year as well. My favorite part of celebration as a kid was those red envelopes stuffed with “lucky money,” or bills, anywhere from one dollar to twenty dollars that I received from family and friends. Then there are those vivid memories of the beautiful paper lanterns and, of course, everyone’s favorite, the dragon and lion dances. If you’d like to see a Chinese New Year craft for kids, click Paper Lanterns for Chinese New Year Celebration.
HISTORY
Chinese New Year is the most important festival in China. This 15-day celebration starts on the first day of the month which marks the end of winter and the starting of the Spring Festival 春節 (Pinyin: Chūnjié).
February 10, 2013: Chinese New Year, Year of the Snake |
The difference between the American New Year and the Chinese New Year is due to the type of calender that are used. The Chinese follows a lunar calendar that closely reflects the phases of the moon. Like many other lunar calendars, it is not in legal use, but solely for the purpose of marking traditions and/or religious celebrations. Many neighboring countries share this Lunar New Year with the Chinese, such as Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand to name a few. Regional customs in how people celebrate differs however.
Before rolling in the new year, Chinese people symbolically clean out their house to get rid all the bad stuff while welcoming good luck in the new year. Red papers, called Couplets, with words like “longevity”, “happiness,” “prosperity” are usually posted on each doorpost to bring good fortune to the family.
New Year’s Eve marks the beginning of the celebration whereby family members gather for a feast. I remember having chicken and pork and a host of other dishes with veggies and sweet desserts. And having different meat dishes on the table indicates prosperity for the family; the poor on the other hand could only afford cheaper food like rice and vegetables. The goal, as my dad puts it, is to “end the year with plenty to start the new year well.”
Starting the year well seems to be the overarching theme for the Chinese culture because what ever happens during these few days will follow for the rest of the year.
New Year, New Perspective
Now that I’m a Christian, I see a different perspective to these superstitions. I still want to teach my kids the traditions of my heritage and I also want to teach them that we no longer live in fear for Christ has cast out all our fears. I know that no matter what we say or what we do will change how much Jesus loves us. His love endures forever. Jesus also says in the Bible, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (New International Version 1984). And so, I look forward celebrating this coming Chinese Year with the family and with you as well as I will be posting some activities and crafts.
To learn how we made paper lanterns, click Paper Lanterns for Chinese New Year Celebration.
References:
A Phone Interview With My Dad
Hi, I'm Betty and welcome to Home Educator Mom. Whether you are a homeschooling family or not, we’re all called to be our kids’ first teachers. Our desire here is to encourage moms as we walk this path of training and equipping our children. We hope you will stay a while and join us on this journey: learning and sharing life together. Meet our contributors and view their bios.
