China Summer Camp
After our France Summer Camp, we continued our international theme and headed east. This time we set our sights on China. This was actually our second time with the China theme, but one of my kiddos is completely intrigued. Our neighbor gave him this cool coffee table book that further ignited his curiosity.
First, we learned about the dynasties. Since China has been around for about 4000 years, there have been a bunch of them. It was a little challenging to give a brief recap on each one. I was content with the names of each one and a timeline of when they reigned.
The Terra-Cotta Warriors are amazing! There were more than 7500 life-sized men and horses; their hands and heads all individually modeled. They carried actual weapons to protect Emperor Qin Shihuangdi’s burial site.
Since China is such a large country it provides a home to many different kinds of animals. There are habitats for over 4500 species of vertebrates (animals with spines), which include more than 1200 birds, 400 mammals, 200 amphibians, 350 reptiles and 2300 kinds of fish. Some of my favorites are the snow leopard, the yak and the giant panda.
You can’t learn about animals without learning about the plants that shelter them. Again, since China is so big, it is home to over 7000 species of woody plants. 650 of the 800 known varieties of azalea are found in China. There are reports of a 3000 year old ginkgo tree in the Shandong province!
I’ve always wanted to make fortune cookies and I thought this would be the week, but it wasn’t. For a ‘vacation’, we were awfully busy. So we settled for the next best thing – pot stickers for dinner. They’re quick and surprisingly healthy; that’s what I call a win/win!
Loosely sticking with the food theme and to add some variety (it can’t all be food and reading) we had a chopstick relay race. We used chopsticks to carry marshmallows from a bowl at one end of the room to another bowl at the other end. We ate the ones that didn’t get dropped – maybe it is all about the food.
Another country and lots more fun! Stay tuned for our final destination.
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Tags: China, Chopstick race, Dynasties, Pot stickers, Summer Camp, Terra Cotta Warriors
Thanks for the comment. I think learning should be fun way more often than it is! Our final destination should be up soon.
How cool is that?! I love ideas that connect learning with fun. Loved your France theme too. Can’t wait to see where you’re going for your final destination!
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