According to the Lunar Zodiac, those born under the sign of the Ox are strong, determined, and dependable people. They are patient, creative, hard-working, and find success by being persistent, working with their capabilities and according to their ideals. Oxen are loyal and loving, and value their families. Some of their weaknesses include communication skills and many prefer to be independent and enjoy solitude rather than group settings and social gatherings. They also tend to be stubborn. The year of the Ox is said to be one of positivity, strength, hard work, and honesty.
Some well-known people born under the Ox sign include Barack Obama, Vincent Van Gogh, and Walt Disney. Were you born under the year of the Ox?
Free Printable Coloring Sheets Available on AerilynBooks.com
We are looking forward to what this year has to offer and celebrating at home with some Seollal traditions and activities.
However you celebrate the new year, we have a few kid-friendly activities to add to the fun! We have FREE printables for you in our online store. Design your own hanbok, make your own paper fans, color a simple Seollal celebration – and choose from several other learning activities, while you’re at it! They’re all FREE and available to you on aerilynbooks.com. We hope you have a happy new year!
Thanksgiving is fast approaching and, though this year has thrown curve balls at every single one of us, we want to shift our focus to everything good in our lives. Now is as good a time as ever to take a breath, step back, and reflect on what we are so blessed to have.
Free Thanksgiving Printable Now Available on aerilynbooks.com
We’ve added a new FREE Thanksgiving activity sheet to our online store so you and your family can think about all you are thankful for, as well. Our little ones have had so much fun making their lists and I was pleasantly surprised by some of their answers! Every day, I learn a little bit more about each of these amazing people they are growing up to be!
Though social distancing is keeping us physically apart from many of our friends and family members, we are still together in heart and in spirit – with many ways to keep in touch – and for that we are thankful. Reach out with a letter, a phone call, an email, a text, or however works best for you, and embrace the true meaning of togetherness this holiday.
Autumn is here! The air is getting crisper, the leaves are changing color, and we are looking forward to all the traditions of the season! Many of those seasonal traditions in our home involve pumpkins – decorating, crafting, painting, eating… we are all about pumpkins!
A favorite activity for my kids is Pumpkin Exploration. It’s a simple activity that is perfect for kids who like to get their hands messy and can easily allow for some additional education like counting and language-learning. We make a trip to our local pumpkin farm, taking our time to enjoy it and have fun (maybe even take a hay ride or pick apples if still in peak season!) and once we get home, we wash up and get ready to explore.
We used a small pie pumpkin for this activity.
What you need: 🔹 A small pumpkin 🔹 Some newspaper to protect your work surface 🔹 A spoon for scooping 🔹 A bowl for collecting the seeds
What you do: 🔸Cut the pumpkin in half 🔸Explore the inside of the pumpkin, with hands or spoon 🔸Count and remove seeds and place in the bowl 🔸Play with, remove, and discard pulp
My preschooler has fun removing the seeds and pulp with a spoon.
Language-Booster: While exploring the pumpkin, talk about what you see: seeds, pulp, and flesh. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce or review vocabulary, discuss how plants grow from seeds, and think about where healthy foods come from.
Math: Count the seeds you find in the pumpkin, compare quantities (how many seeds were in one half? how many in the other half? which number is greater? etc.), and make number groups (groups of 5, 10, 20…).
After exploring, we make diagrams to record what we learned.
Pumpkin Diagram
After my kids are done exploring their pumpkin, we discard the pulp and clean the seeds, and we make our own diagrams to record what we learned. You’re going to want to keep your surface covered in the newspaper for this activity, too.
What you need: 🔹 A piece of blank paper 🔹 Some orange washable and non-toxic acrylic paint 🔹 A paint brush 🔹 Cotton balls 🔹 Liquid glue 🔹 Clean pumpkin seeds
What you do: 🔸Paint the shape of the pumpkin on paper 🔸Create “pulp” by gently stretching out cotton balls, and paint orange 🔸Glue “pulp” and seeds inside the painted pumpkin shape
My niece had fun gluing seeds on her diagram.
Making a diagram is a great way to retain information and record observations made during the exploration activity, while exercising creativity, and allows your child to look back on the activity at a later date to recall what they learned. It’s a great introduction to the scientific method!
Pumpkin Spice Hotteok
While the glue on the diagrams are drying, we prepare to cook the pumpkin. There are so many wonderful pumpkin recipes out there, so take your pick! This time, we made Pumpkin Spice Hotteok (호박 호떡).
Making pumpkin puree is super easy and can be used to make a variety of delicious foods. Hotteok (호떡) is a popular Korean pancake filled with sweet syrup and nuts, perfect for chilly days – and when combined with pumpkin and spices, is a delicious fusion between Korean and American flavors.
To make the pumpkin puree, make sure the outside of the pumpkin is washed well, sprinkle the flesh with some salt, and place cut-side down on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Roast the pumpkin in the oven at 400 degrees F until easily pierced with a fork and the skin pulls away from the flesh (45 to 60 minutes). Once cool enough to handle, process with a food processor or blender until smooth. That’s it! It’s ready to use in your favorite recipe!
While still warm, we used our fresh pumpkin puree in our Pumpkin Spice Hotteok recipe, and topped it with whipped cream, maple syrup, and honey butter. They were absolutely delicious and helped to close our day of activities!
The kids enjoyed every last bite of the pumpkin spice hotteok!
Taking the kids through all three activities, from whole pumpkin to tasty dessert, helps them to appreciate that journey from farm to table. They get to be involved in every part of that journey with these exploration activities: picking the pumpkin, exploring the fruit, recording their observations, and even cooking! And along the way they practice math, language, science, and art. It’s a well-rounded educational experience perfect for an autumn Sunday!
I hope you and your kids have fun with these activities, and that they can become a tradition in your home, too. Until next time!
Happy Wednesday! It’s been a little bit crazy over here, trying to get into the virtual-learning groove, but now that we are in week three everything is going much more smoothly. I hope you are all doing well adjusting to this new (and unique) school year!
Now that things have settled down a bit, I wanted to share another DIY project for teaching your child 한글 (Hangul).
DIY Hangul Blocks Materials
What you need: 🔹 Chalkboard Blocks 🔹 Chalk Markers (2 or more colors)
What you do: 🔸 Write Vowels in One Color 🔸 Write Consonants in Second Color
Write Vowels in One Color and Consonants in the Second Color
I found these cute chalkboard blocks at our local Michaels Arts and Crafts Store on clearance, but you could easily use plain wooden blocks and paint them with matte paint in any color you’d like – I really liked the chalkboard for these for that back-to-school look.
Chalk markers are great for this project, because you can easily wipe them clean if you make a mistake or want to reuse the blocks for other lessons. Feel free to use paint markers if you want something more permanent.
I used pink to write the vowels and white to write consonants, using a total of 16 blocks so I could include double consonants. I had some extra blank sides, which I filled with more frequently used consonants and vowels. In less than five minutes, they were dry and we were able to get to word-building practice!
Word-building Practice with Hangul Blocks
My preschooler had a lot of fun making these with me and using them to build simple words! How will you design your own Hangul Blocks?
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We are always looking for fun ways to merge learning activities with play time and the classic children’s game, “I Spy,” is a perfect opportunity to do just that! “I Spy” is a guessing game where, traditionally, players take turns choosing something in the immediate area and reciting the rhyme “I spy with my little eye, something that is…” and the other players try to guess what the object is based on the singular clue.
One of the great things about this game is its incredible flexibility – you can use colors, shapes, sizes, and other adjectives as clues (or combinations of them); play the game anywhere you happen to be; practice target-language vocabulary… there are so many ways you can tailor it to your own personal needs!
“I Spy” Glasses template available for download on aerilynbooks.com
To make this game even more fun, we added a craft element to it. Our kids love to make things by hand, so this was right up their alley! Plus, it provides the extra benefits of strengthening their pincer grip and exercising their creative skills.
Use our FREE Downloadable Template to make your own looking glasses.
What you need: 🔹 FREE Downloadable “I Spy” Glasses Template 🔹 Colorful Paper or Cardstock 🔹 Kids Scissors 🔹 Heat Resistant Acetate Sheets (Optional) 🔹 Double Sided Tape (Optional) 🔹 Popsicle Stick (Optional)
What you do: 🔸 Print “I Spy” Glasses Template on Colorful Paper or Cardstock 🔸 Cut Along Solid Lines to Create “I Spy” Glasses
Optional: 🔹 Cut the “Lens” Out of Acetate Sheet and Use Double Sided Tape to Adhere Between the Paper Cut-outs 🔹 Use a Popsicle Stick to Create a Stronger Handle, Taping it Between the Paper Cut-outs 🔹 Decorate with Stickers or Washi Tape
“I spy with my little eye, something that is…”
Use your newly customized looking glasses to play “I Spy” and practice shapes, colors, and vocabulary – your child will love having their very own “magnifying glass” to search for objects around the house! Try playing in your target language, for some bilingual fun, or even go on a bug-hunt – how many activities can you think of for these looking glasses? We’d love to see your ideas in action – tag us in your pictures on Instagram and we just may feature them on our page!
새해 복 많이 받으세요! Lunar New Year (설날 – Seollal) is just around the corner and we wanted to share a few activities for you and your little one to enjoy in addition to your family’s traditional celebrations!
But first… let’s talk about the Lunar Zodiac!
2020 is the year of the Rat! According to the Lunar Zodiac signs, the year of the Rat is a great year for starting new things and getting a fresh start. This may be a good time to try something new, set new goals, and really put yourself out there! If you’ve been thinking about learning a new language, starting a new job or even starting your own business – maybe this is your year to do it! It is said that those born under this sign are charming and ambitious, but also logical and realist. Were you born in the year of the Rat?
Paper Fan Craft found on aerilynbooks.com
Whatever your traditions are for celebrating the new year, we have a few kid-friendly activities to add to the fun! We’ve added coloring sheets and paper fan crafts to the FREE Downloadable Worksheets section of our online store. Design your own hanbok, make your own paper fans, and color a simple Seollal celebration – and choose from several other learning activities, while you’re at it! They’re all FREE and available to you on aerilynbooks.com. We hope you have a happy new year!
