STEAM Lunar New Year theme

STEAM with an unusual theme:  Lunar New Year (sometimes called Chinese New Year)

Since a number of students will have just completed a semester of studying Japan and China, we thought it would be fun to sponsor a day of activities with an Asian theme.  And since Lunar New Year is in January this year (25th) we’ll only be slightly early with our celebration.  (Please note that using the Lunar New Year theme does not mean we are endorsing the traditional religious views of these cultures.  This is a religion-neutral event, and basically an excuse to use China/Japan as a theme.)

 

LUNCH:  We’ll do Asian cuisine somehow, either potluck, or catered.

 

ACTIVITIES for all ages:

–The traditional Chinese Dragon dance, with a large 10-person dragon

–Hopefully, a visit from a local Chinese student group who perform the dragon dance at various sites around town

–Puppet shows featuring traditional Chinese folk tales and traditional Chinese shadow puppets

–Asian art/craft project to make and take

 

For older students:

“Fireworks chemistry” seminar:   Since the ancient Chinese invented fireworks, this is a great excuse to learn about some explosive chemistry.  We’ll try to get a special guest who is an expert in the field, but in any case we’ll learn about the chemistry of fireworks and then have a hands-on activity where we make our own fire bomb.

Abacus Contest:  We’ll teach you how to use an abacus if you don’t know already, then you can participate in some just-for-fun contests.  Then we will watch a short video of a real abacus contest in a Chinese school!

For younger students:

Activities TBA