World Culture Activities for Kids

Chinese Rattle Drum Craft

February 1, 2019 By Terri Thompson

Do you know what a Chinese rattle drum is?

The rattle drum is a traditional Chinese toy that’s often found at festivals.

I’ve always found that one of the best ways to teach my kids about another culture is by doing a craft. So we decided to make our own version of a Chinese rattle drum craft.

Make a fun craft for Chinese New Year or any time you're learning about China when you make this Chinese Rattle Drum craft for kids.

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This kids craft version is fun to make and opens the door to discussions about Chinese culture and Chinese New Year. Keep reading and I’ll tell you how we made it.

Supplies Needed:

Heavy cardboard (from a shipping box)
Scissors
Lid (we used a sour cream container lid)
Red construction paper
Wood beads
Gold paint pen or permanent marker
Glue
String
Large craft stick

How to make your Chinese Rattle Drum craft:

To start, I used the plastic sour cream lid to trace three circles.

I traced one on the cardboard and two on the red construction paper.

Then we cut them out. The cardboard is hard to cut, so an adult may want to tackle this part of the project.

While I was cutting the cardboard, my preschooler decided to decorate the red circles with the gold paint pen.

We talked about a few Chinese designs she could draw and she opted to decorate her drum with gold coins. They were joined later with a few friendly dragon faces.

After I cut out the cardboard circle, I poked a hole in each side. We needed the holes to tie our beads to the drum

Meanwhile, my preschooler colored our beads with the gold pen.

Once our decorating was finished, we glued a red circle to each side of the cardboard.

The, we took the string and tied it through the two holes in the side. (Note: We found using a needle made this step much easier.)

We then tied a bead to each string making sure your strings are short enough that your beads will hit your circles.

To finish off our drum, we glued a large craft stick to the back of our drum. We happened to have a red craft stick, but any color will do.

I also added a dot of glue to each knot. Without the glue, we had problems with our knots coming untied while we played with the drum. Once we added the glue, our knots have stayed strong.

To play the drum, hold it by the stick and rotate your drum back and forth. The bead will swing up and hit your drum. Then, grab your sister (or brother or friend) and go dancing through the house!

Our favorite crafting resources

You probably already have most of the resources you need to make this fun Chinese rattle drum craft at home. But, if not, here are a few of our recommended products:

Would you like to do more activities with your kids?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Shamrock Potato Prints Printmaking Project

March 7, 2018 By Terri Thompson

St. Patrick’s Day is always the perfect excuse to learn more about Ireland. Certainly it’s fun any time of the year, but certainly St. Patrick’s Day always reminds me.

So, let’s go to Ireland, learn a little about Irish folklore, and create a fun shamrock potato prints printmaking project.

Use shamrock potato prints to decorate cards, paper, or notebooks with this fun printmaking project for St. Patrick's Day. It's a fun art project for all ages.

When researching our Irish project, I found a wide selection of Irish folktales and soon settled on Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie DePaola. We love Tomie DePaola books and knew he would tell us a fun tale.

After enjoying the story of Jamie O’Rourke, the laziest man in all of Ireland, we decided not to be lazy and to start crafting. Since the book centered around a potato, we decided to try out potato stamping.

Supplies needed

Potato
Sharp knife (adult use only!)
Green paint
Paper
Paint brushes (foam brushes work best)

Create your potato stamp

The grown-up in charge will have to prep this project.

To make the potato stamps, cut a potato in half. I used a toothpick to “draw” my shamrocks before cutting. Then using the knife I cut around the shamrock to make my stamp.

We made two different styles of stamps. On one, I cut out the shamrock and on the other, I cut a thick outline of the shamrock.

Create with shamrock potato prints

We used the paintbrush to paint some green paint onto our stamp.

I used a couple of different shades of green since we were using shamrocks.

The girls painted and stamped and painted and stamped some more. We weren’t so worried about the end product. This project was all about the process.

The girls enjoyed stamping and seeing the texture from the potatoes.

After they covered their paper, they got creative. Soon our potatoes were completely painted green!

So much fun! You can keep these shamrock potato prints as a fun process art activity or you can use your potato stamp to decorate note cards, notebook covers, wrapping paper, or a fun wall hanging.

If you would like to try an Irish recipe to go along with your art project, check out this yummy Soda Bread Recipe from Glittering Muffins. You can download a printable passport page here and a placemat here to help you learn all about Ireland as part of the Around the World in 12 Dishes blog series.

Previously posts March 18, 2013. Updated and republished 2018.

If you enjoyed these shamrock potato prints, the above photo is perfect for sharing on Facebook or you can save the photo below on Pinterest.

35+ China Activities for Kids

January 9, 2018 By Terri Thompson

We’ve always found it valuable to learn about other cultures.

I love it and my girls love it. They’re learning about the different corners of the world. They see people’s differences and celebrate them.

We chose China this time because Chinese New Year was happening soon (today actually), but an exploration of another country can happen at anytime. Choose two or three activities from this list. Find a couple of books at your library (or Internet resources). And then, have fun learning about another country together. It’s an incredibly valuable experience.

You can start with these fun China activities for kids.

Over 35 crafts, games, learning activities, cooking activities, and more China activities for kids suitable for preschool, kindergarten, and elementary kids

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Here are over 35 fun China activities for kids including crafts, food, books and art projects. It’s so much fun learning about a different culture together.

Celebrate Chinese New Year

1. Make round folding fans for Chinese New Year with Naturally Educational.

2. Join in at Marie’s Pastiche and find out the top 10 things to do for Chinese New Year.

3. Make Chinese New Year Dragon puppets with Red Ted Art.

4. Make Chinese New Year Dragons from paper loop chains with Naturally Educational.

5. Make stunning Chinese New Year lanterns with Relentlessly Fun Deceptively Educational.

6. Make red envelopes for Chinese New Year with Sun Scholars.

7. Enjoy a Chinese tea ceremony and read book about Chinese New Year with Little Wonders’ Days.

8. Make Chinese rattle-drums with Creative Family Fun.

9. Make a Chinese zodiac poster with KidWorldCitizen.

10. This year will be the Year of the Horse. Learn to write the Chinese character for horse and turn it into a beautiful piece of art with Artchoo.

Learn About the Animals of China

11. Watch a Panda Cam at Explore.org

12. Make a Giant Panda lapbook at Homeschool Share.

13. Read one of these books about pandas at Fantastic Fun and Learning.

14. Make paper plate panda masks with Creative Family Fun.

15. Make shaving cream marbled tigers at Play Create Explore.

16. Make paper plate tiger masks with Creative Family Fun.

Cook a Chinese Meal

17. Make Peanut Sauce and Rice Noodles with Inner Child Food.

18. Make Honey Sesame Chicken with Lil’ Luna.

19. Make Chinese almond cookies with Table for Two.

20. Make vegetarian dumplings with Spoonful.

21. Make Chicken Lo Mein with Rasa Malaysia

Create Art or Make a Craft

22. Make cherry blossom folding fans with In the Playroom.

23. Decorate with Chinese lantern fairy lights with Red Ted Art.

24. Make a cultural book about China with Kids Activities Blog.

25. Make Chinese dragon paintings with Use Your Coloured Pencils.

26. Make a simple kite craft with Creative Family Fun.

27. Make a paint and paste Chinese Dragon Craft with No Time For Flashcards.

28. Create Chinese-style scroll painting with Use Your Coloured Pencils.

29. Learn to draw Chinese lanterns with Art Projects for Kids.

30. Learn about Chinese characters while exploring the art of printmaking with Creative Family Fun.

31. Make a bamboo scroll from craft sticks with Marie’s Pastiche.

32. Make cupcake liner fortune cookies with JDaniel4’s Mom.

33. Make straw-painted paper lanterns with Creative Family Fun.

34. Make a Chinese gong with KidWorldCitizen.

Read a Book About China

35. Choose from 14 books about the Chinese New Year at Gift of Curiosity.

36. Read one of these 10 books about China at No Time For Flashcards.

37. Read one of these Chinese Folktales for Kids at What Do We Do All Day?

Have fun learning with these China activities for kids!

Australia Activities for Kids: Crafts, Books, and Fun

May 30, 2017 By Terri Thompson

Let’s take a trip down under with some fun Australia activities for kids. We’ll explore through crafts, books, recipes, and other learning activities.

It’s always so much fun to another country and since we can’t always travel to all the places in the world, doing a geography and cultural exploration at home is the next best thing.

We loved learning about Australia so much for Project Around the World, that we did a few extra projects we found on other blogs. One project just wasn’t enough.

Luckily, there are a ton of great crafts, activities, and recipes that you can do with your kids for your at-home exploration of Australia. Check out all the great ideas I found below.

Take a virtual trip with these Australia activities for kids:

Create an Australian flag. Danya Banya has a fun version for your kids to make.

Make the Sydney Opera House out of paper plates using this simple tutorial from Danya Banya.

Explore Australia through smell with some Calming Eucalyptus Play Dough from The Imagination Tree.

You can also explore the scent of eucalyptus with this colorful and scented sensory rice play idea from Laughing Kids Learn.

Build the Sydney Harbour Bridge with this simple craft from Danya Banya.

Make a torn paper collage picture of Uluru (Ayers Rock). Find out how to make your own at Kid World Citizen.

Use a fun printmaking technique to create fun bottlebrush flowers artwork. Danya Banya has the instructions for this fun technique.

Learn about the animals of Australia:

Make a felt kookaburra finger puppet. Red Ted Art shows you how to make this simple sewing project.

Make an adorable paper bag platypus like these from Cook Clean Craft.

Use a cardboard tube to make this cute frilled neck lizard from The Craft Train.

Make an echidna grass head. Mother Natured shows you how to make this fun project.

Create a simple koala bookmark for your favorite books. You can find our koala drawing tutorial for this cute bookmark here.

Use newspaper to make this fun koala craft from I Heart Crafty Things.

Find some paper plates to make this koala and joey craft from Danya Banya.

Explore the Aboriginal culture:

Make Aboriginal clapping sticks with Laughing Kids Learn.

We explored Aboriginal dot art with this fun art project.

Explore Aboriginal symbols with these beautiful Aboriginal Dreamtime Story Stones from A Moment in Our World.

Decorate a boomerang with dot art with this fun project from Kidz Activities.

Explore Australia through food:

Make Australian Damper Bread with Laughing Kids Learn.

Anzac Biscuits are a popular treat. Danya Banya shows you how to make them.

Lamingtons are another popular sweet treat. Create-Celebrate-Explore has an easy recipe for you to try.

Enjoy a fun Australian recipe for lunch when you make these Vegemite and Cheese Scrolls from Laughing Kids Learn.

Try fairy bread, a fun (and colorful) Australian kids’ treat. A Simple Pantry shows you how to make this simple treat.

Read a book about Australia:

Grab a fun picture book written by an Australian author. Childhood 101 has a massive book list you should check out.

Mem Fox is one of the most famous children’s book authors from Australia. Try one of her classics like Koala Lou or Possum Magic.

Inspired by Over in the Meadow, Over in Australia by Marianne Berkes will take preschoolers on a fun exploration of Australian animals.

I love to grab a book from the Discover the World series whenever we do a country exploration. D is for Down Under by Devin Scillian is full of facts and images of Australia.

Australia ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Australia by Sarah Heiman is another great book full of facts and images of Australia.

Have fun playing and learning with these fun Australia activities for kids!

Painting With Sugar – Exploring Barbados Through Art

November 4, 2016 By Terri Thompson

Every time we get creative with Project: Around the World, I realize just how valuable it is.

We learn a little, ask questions, wonder, and expand our world.

And with the state of the world lately, we need to expand our world beyond our own neighborhood.

Our latest project was inspired by the island nation of Barbados. While there are many beautiful and fascinating things about the country (read all about it here), we found our inspiration in their production of sugar cane. Sugar played a very important role in the economic growth of the country.

So, we concocted our own DIY sugar paint and let ourselves be inspired by the Caribbean nation of Barbados.

Mix up a batch of DIY sugar paint - made with corn syrup - to do this fun art project inspired by the country of Barbados.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

In order to paint with sugar, we needed a liquid form of sugar. Light corn syrup was the first thing that popped in my head. I had remembered seeing other versions of DIY paint that used corn syrup, so I thought we’d give it a try.

I took a trip to the grocery store for supplies. The only thing I’ve ever used light corn syrup in was pecan pie and I’ve only made that a few times in my life. I never have corn syrup in my pantry. Other than the corn syrup, I only needed one other item: food coloring.

How to Make Corn Syrup Paint:

You’ll need a muffin tin (this makes for easy clean up), light corn syrup, and food coloring.

Add one to two tablespoons of corn syrup to each muffin cup. Exact measurements are not really that important, just eyeball it. For two children, we didn’t use much paint, one tablespoon in each cup would have been enough.

Add five to six drops of food coloring to each cup. The more food coloring you use, the brighter the color.

Mix each with a spoon. Now you’re ready to paint.

Clean Up Hint: Our paint brushes cleaned easily with a little mild soap and water. I used a bit of dish soap when I cleaned up.

Once we made the paint, we were ready to create. We used our regular paint brushes and white drawing paper for our picture. You won’t want to use thin paper, but anything as thick as white copy paper will be fine.

While we painted, we learned about Barbados.

Did you know:

Barbados is tiny. It’s only 167 square miles in size with a population of just over 284,000.

It’s home to four different nesting turtle species: the loggerhead, green turtle, hawksbill turtle, and leatherback.

Cricket is the most popular sport.

Like many other Caribbean nations, tourism plays an important role in its economy.

We created.

While we talked, we painted.

We leaned that our sugar paint was a little bit harder to use than our favorite type of paint – watercolors. The paint was thick and sticky.

We quickly learned to adapt. It was hard to make long sweeping lines, so we stuck with shorter lines.

It took more time to fill in a large area, so we had to go slowly.

We veered off from creating actual pictures when my oldest daughter discovered what happened when you dripped the paint on your paper.

The paint didn’t run. It stayed in droplets. Cool!

Soon our creations turned into awesome abstract pictures using drip painting.

It’s so much fun to create with a new medium. Especially when that new medium is linked to a fun geography lesson.

We learned about sugar and about Barbados all while creating beautiful artwork.

Now, I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the corn syrup!

Special note: Make sure you take picture of the completed artwork. The paint did dry, but remained sticky. I wouldn’t recommend keeping the completed projects for too long. Photography is a great way to keep artwork without the paper clutter (or in this case, sticky paper).

You may also enjoy one of these Project: Around the World art projects:

Layered Paper Underwater Scenes: Exploring The Bahamas Through Art

Painting on Music: Exploring Austria Through Art

Handprint Art: Exploring Argentina Through Art

Find all the Project: Around the World posts here.

World Culture Activities for Kids

Chinese Rattle Drum Craft

Supplies Needed:

How to make your Chinese Rattle Drum craft: