Activities To Do At Home

Print out these pages.

 

 

 

 

Mapping Activity

 

 

 

 

Name _________________________

Follow the directions to color in the map of China.

Use very light colors so you can see the map.

1. Draw and color in Mount Everest green and brown. Draw smaller mountains around it to represent the Himalaya Mountain Range. Label the Himalaya Mountain Range.

2. Color in the Gobi Desert tan.

3. Color in the Plateau of Tibet red.

4. Color the Giant Panda habitat gray. Draw some pandas and bamboo.

5. Trace the Yangtze River in dark blue.

6. Trace the Yellow River in bright yellow.

7. Trace the Great Wall of China in purple.

Challenge:

8. Locate the capital city of Beijing and label it with a red star.

9. Locate and label other cities and surrounding sea and ocean.

 

 

 

Chinese Inventions


Name _________________________

Write or cut out the words and paste them beside the invention.

 

 

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Wheelbarrow

 

Kite

 

Abacus

 

Compass

 

Gun Powder

 

Umbrella

 

 

 

Printing
Something for you and your adult helper to do for another fun activity.


Printing and paper-making are two of the most famous of China's technological advances. In 105 A.D., Cai Lun, the Emperor's Inspector of Public Works, reported that the Imperial workmen had succeeded in making an economical and practical paper. Like paper, printing has an ancient heritage. The first Chinese printers carved pictures or writing into flat wooden blocks. After the carved blocks were rolled with ink, paper was pressed onto them.


 

Make a Printing Block


You will need:

  • Small, sharp kitchen knife (to be used by an adult)
  • 1 small, unpeeled potato
  • Marking pen
  • Cutting board
  • Paper
  • Spoon
  • Rulers
  • Water
  • Small sponge
  • Tempera or acrylic paint
  • Newspaper


  1. Ask your adult helper to cut the potato in half. With the marker, draw the shapes (your initials, a Chinese pictograph or stars and moons) you want on the cut side. Remember the stamp will print backwards, so cut out letters like B and S backwards.

  2. On the cutting board, ask your adult helper to carve away the potato around the stamp you drew. Your design should stick up about 1/4 inch.

  3. Dampen the sponge and dip it in paint.

  4. On the newspaper, press your stamp against the sponge. Then, press the stamp against your paper.
Printing Blocks