Hideaways in History Week 4

CHINA

We had the Great Wall of China in our home last week...yes, the Great Wall. Well, at least a very miniature, homemade version of the longest man-made structure in the world. How delightful it is to hear my 4 and 6 year olds tell their friends that they're 'building' the Great Wall of China in our home! Let's see, here are some things we learned about this past week...

We learned ...

-about the discovery of how to make Silk by the Emperor's wife, and how it was a well-kept secret for many many years
-how to say a few Chinese words (call the kids up and ask them!)
-that the Chinese were amazing inventors, creating numerous things that even today we still use, like tea, kites, silk, and- did you even know- watches and chairs (well... the kids informed me of this one, after seeing a "Made In China" sticker on the bottom of our barstool chairs and on the back of M's wristwatch!!!)
-how the Great Wall was actually made (out of dirt and rocks!), and that it was actually made from many different separate walls in different cities, and then one Emperor decided to have them all combined
-how to make Chinese paper lanterns and dragons
-how to use chopsticks (well... we tried anyway!)
-how to eat sitting on the floor (no table) as a family for meals like the Chinese used to do, and even slept on the floor (no beds)- the kids initiated these 'activities'!
-that Papa actually visited and walked on the Great Wall of China, and visited many more exciting places that we read about this week! He showed us some pictures from his mission trips many years ago!
-about an Emperor who had a huge grave that included 7500 clay (teracotta, actually) soldiers to 'protect' his grave, each soldier with a unique face and each soldier armed with an automatic weapon that would supposedly fire if anyone dared to trespass!!

We even had a "Chinese New Year celebration" with a paper dragon dance, decorated the house with Chinese paper lanterns, fanned our hot Florida selves with homemade Chinese paper fans, and fought off the Mongols on our own Great Wall, then ended the day with hot tea!
Here's a little peak at some of the great fun we had learning - and playing!- together "in China" last week...

One side of our Great Wall (and since then the kids have made other mini versions of the Wall, including a pillow wall, block wall, cardboard brick wall, lego wall, and even a stacked colored-pencil wall!)

Lighting torches in the watchtower upon seeing danger  (the Mongols- shown on the right!) to warn the next village that danger is approaching!

Fighting the Enemy with bows and arrows! Quite the warriors!

Our Chinese paper lanterns

Our Chinese paper dragons...

Tea Time- Chinese style!

Distinguished "Master Po"

Beautiful "Mulan"

Sweet "Baby Ling"

My Chinese dollies...

Our Chinese meal as a family

 Now the kids officially want to visit Egypt and China.... "But when can we really go there, Mama??!"
Hmmm... I might need to get a night job as a flight attendant, or Papa might actually need to look into that Pilot's license he's dreaming about getting!!