Chinese New Year (CNY) is a fun time for kids as they dress up in new clothes, feast on goodies, receive Ang Pows and visit friends and relatives. What about using this time to “Huat” their 8 Multiple Intelligences too?
Here are 8 ways to take advantage of the festivities to do some intelligence building to add to the celebrations and fun.
Logic Smart
- Challenge the kids to do mental sums of the total amount of Ang Pow money they have collected. This could be done on a household visit or if they are older, get them to do a running total as they go from place to place.
- Find out who can remember who gave how much money! Memory game improves their mental management.
Music Smart
- Ask the family to analyse what makes a song or music a CNY song/music. What are the key ingredients?
- Analyse a piece of CNY music and guess what instruments are involved.
Nature Smart
- Tasting game – pick a food item, eg. pineapple tart, and ask the kids to evaluate whose tart is the tastiest. Ask them to give reasons for their rating.
- Ask them to predict the weather. At the end of the day, give a prize.
People Smart
- Draw a family tree.
- Play an observation game – “Who is the happiest of them all”. Before going to a house, challenge the kids to the game of observing who is the happiest person in the house. After leaving the house, ask them who their think is the happiest and why.
Self Smart
- Ask the kids to tell you what the like most about CNY and why.
- Ask the kids to tell you who their favourite relative is and why.
Picture Smart
- As an extension of the Music Smart game, ask the family what makes a piece of decoration a CNY decoration? What are the key factors?
- Get the family to vote on which house has the most CNY feel to it. Why?
Body Smart
- Make CNY craft items
- Ask them to create hand signs/actions to represent the different types of greetings.
This article was contributed by Dr Henry Toi from Nurture Craft. You can find their classes and magazines here.
