Shanghai Utsukushigaoka Montessori Kindergarten assists in the growth of children by the educational idea of Montessori

Mochitsuki Day & Making Tangyuan  Activity

At the beginning of the new year, Utsukushigaoka Kindergarten held the Mochitsuki Event. In Japan, mochi is considered as a symbol of good luck, and mochi pounding symbolizes people's desire to break bad luck and usher in a new year of good fortune. The process of making mochi symbolizes the resilience and courage of people in the face of difficulties and challenges. The mochi is made from glutinous rice, which is soaked, steamed and mashed in several steps. Our parents pounded the glutinous rice in preparation for the mochi making process.

It's time to start making mochi! The blue group children took their turn,  pounding the mochi with a mortar and pestle. The yellow, red and pink group children were pounding the mochi together with the help of their parents to experience this fun new year's activity.

The mochi were finally ready to be served! The white rice cakes were soft and chewy, and the children and their parents had a great time making their own delicious DIY mochi with bean paste, soy sauce, seaweed and other ingredients.

At Pudong Campus, the activity of making Tangyuan was also in full swing! Tangyuan symbolize family reunion in the new year. The dads at Pudong Campus firstly stirred the glutinous rice flour with water and then kneaded the dough with their hands. The kneaded glutinous rice was then divided into small balls in preparation for each family to wrap the dumpling.

Now it's time for each family to make Tangyuan. Moms and dads work with their children to make dumplings with the prepared bean paste filling. Everyone carefully made a crust out of glutinous rice dough, wrapped the red bean paste filling inside, and kneaded it to form a dumpling. Everyone was surprised by this unique cultural experience.

One by one, the lovely Tangyuan were ready! Everyone put the dumpling into a Chinese New Year bag and showed their work to the teachers. We look forward to reaping the sweet and savory taste of the dumplings. Happy Chinese New Year!

It is time for the children of the Red Pink Group to have their PE class! The theme this time was continuous jumping on both feet. Through jumping activities, we can promote children's body coordination, balance and explosive power, as well as improve their muscle strength and aerobic endurance. The performance of the new students was also very good and we are very happy to have them join us!

The yellow and blue group's PE lesson was Grab the Flag, a game in which the children gain points by grabbing the flag belts on each other's bodies. Through this game, children can develop teamwork, logical reasoning and decision-making skills, and at the same time cultivate the children's careful observation and attention to things.

With Chinese New Year approaching, the children were making Chinese New Year themed crafts. The children in the red and pink group dipped their fingers in paint and made colorful holiday fireworks onto the paper. The yellow group children created traditional Chinese New Year firecrackers by cutting and pasting red and yellow colored paper. The blue group children created special holiday lanterns by folding and gluing paper. So which piece of artwork is your favorite?

Let's take a look at the Chinese New Year crafts at Pudong Campus! Since the Chinese zodiac sign for the upcoming New Year is the dragon, the children made different forms of dragons to celebrate the New Year. At the end of the day, everyone held up their work and took a picture with their best friends. We wish all the children a wonderful new year as energetic and hopeful as the soaring dragon!

Thank you for browsing! 

Chinese New Year Holiday: 

2.8-2.18

Happy Chinese New Year!

See you next time!