We just wrapped up our Ancient China unit study, and it was a blast! I added in a Magic Tree House book to go along with our unit (#14: Day of the Dragon King), and it was a hit with my kids. We loved the story, it was easy to read, and it made learning the facts about China a lot of fun!
The following blog post is an extension to the FREE downloadable unit study guide I created for Ancient China. I created this unit study for my family with the help of library books, online websites and videos, a fictional novel, and a handful of fun activities and lessons across multiple subjects that we did together as a family.
It may sound complex, but it was actually really simple! If you’d like to learn more about how we put this together, please download the PDF at the end of this post for all the details which includes an actual schedule of how we completed our unit. (We spent 2 weeks studying Ancient China.)
Above all, I share this in hopes to inspire you as you prepare to teach your own children. I pray that these ideas provide fun, memorable experiences for your family to simply learn together.
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Bamboo Scrolls
I originally wanted to make these scrolls with popsicle sticks, but I could not find the sticks in my house anywhere. I ended up cutting strips of cardboard instead and it really turned out great! I was pleased with how thick I could make the cardboard, making it easier to write on.
I decided to have the girls practice writing some Chinese symbols on the cardboard strips so that we could do a little studying about the Chinese writing. I did a simple search and looked for symbols I knew would be easier for them to write. They loved it!
The secret to this activity was to work together to make one scroll instead of everyone making their own. It saved so much time and was a lot less stressful. I gave each of my older girls 1-2 strips of cardboard to write on and I wrote a few myself. Next, I tied the cardboard together with string following the same strategy I saw people using for popsicle sticks.
I’m so happy with how it turned out and it provided such a great visual for the kids of what a bamboo scroll was. We did watch a short video as well. I liked it more for seeing actual ancient Chinese scrolls than for what the content was. Check that video out here.
Paper Chain Dragon
As we were first introduced to the Dragon King in the story, I thought it would be fitting to read a picture book from the library called “D is for Dragon Dance”. It’s a beautiful book that uses every letter of the alphabet to talk about traditions for the Chinese new year.
After reading the book and discussing the symbolism of dragons for China, we made paper chain dragons. I came up with the idea by combining a couple similar crafts I saw on Pinterest. First, you’ll need a free printout from the Made With Happy Blog. This gives you a head and tail of a dragon to color.
Once we colored and cut those out, we used red and orange construction paper to make a paper chain for the dragons body. I was able to staple the head and tail to the two ends creating a long, colorful dragon. I needed popsicle sticks again! But cardboard to the rescue once more. I was able to cut a couple of strips to staple to the dragon on each end giving us something to hold on to.
It was fun to wave the dragon around and see it move. I’m so happy with how these turned out!
Silkworm Life Cycle
I honestly had no idea how silk was made and this process is just incredible to me. After reading all about silk weaving in our story and through our library books, we spent the afternoon studying the life cycle of a silkworm.
This was done with a simple internet search, teaching us that a silkworm goes through a metamorphosis – egg, larva, pupa, adult. I love using paper plates to make a life cycle diagram, but I thought it would be interesting to add a little twist.
Silkworms are a shade of white, so I cut out a black circle to tape to the paper plate, and we used white chalk for our diagram. It really turned out adorable. We used the pictures we found on the internet to copy our drawings. I broke apart and rolled up a cotton ball for the pupa stage, which looked awesome!
After labeling our diagram, we watched a couple videos teaching us even more about the process. It was neat to see some of the tools used to make silk but also to see how it’s made in factories today.
- VIDEO: How it’s Made – Silk (about 5 mins)
- VIDEO: How Silkworms Make Silk (This is less than two minutes)
Great Wall of China
One day, we focused on the Great Wall of China. I wanted to look at a map for this so we found a few in our library books, but I also thought it would be great to look at China on a world map. We have a world map puzzle by Banana Panda that I absolutely love! We get it out all the time when we are studying other countries.
Once we put it all together we were able to look at where China was compared to where we were. We were also able to point out where the Great Wall of China is.
Next, we watched a great video sharing the history of the Great Wall. It was quick, engaging, and easy to follow. I highly recommend it if you are wanting to learn more. My kids actually requested to watch it more than once!
Ancient Chinese Clothing
This is really such a simple thing that happened more through outside play than through a lesson led by me. My oldest daughter was tracing the outline of her siblings when she started thinking about how she would decorate the body. I encouraged her to draw a colorful robe like the Ancient Chinese would wear. We talked about the clothing and even remembered the beaded hat worn by the emperor that was mentioned in our story.
This led to even more conversation about what types of people in Ancient China wore what clothes. A few days later she went back and added another outline and dressed it like someone from China that did not have a high status. So although this was really playful, there was still so much learning that took place!
Making Paper
I almost didn’t do this one! It seemed like such a mess and hassle, but it really wasn’t bad at all. I followed the directions from this website and the results were a lot of fun.
I used paper scraps around the house and blended it with water, as she suggests on the blog. Then, I found an old window screen in our barn to use instead of making something new. Honestly, the activity really did no harm to the screen. I rinsed it off and put it back in storage.
We let it dry for about 24 hours and the next day we were able to write on it and cut it. It was really neat how it turned out. Something that was really helpful for us was to watch a couple videos of the process before we tried it ourselves. This gave us a better idea of what we were actually doing and why.
- VIDEO: Chinese Papermaking
- VIDEO: History of Paper Making (This was a little longer and we didn’t quite make it to the end, but it had great info!)
Terra Cotta Warriors
The inspiration for this simple craft came from an art website I came across on Pinterest. I modified mine a bit, but the supplies I used were craft foam, construction paper, and paint.
I sketched a simple outline of a terra cotta warrior onto a piece of paper. My kids used this to trace into the foam. To do this, you place the piece of paper on top of the foam and use your pencil to trace the lines while making an indention in the foam. This took a bit of patience and wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.
Even still, the outline was helpful for my kids and then they were able to add their own special touch to their soldier’s design. Once we were done drawing on the foam, I helped them trace over the lines to make sure the indentations in the foam were big enough to create our stamp. Then, we trimmed around the soldier so we had one small rectangle.
Next, we used a paint brush to add a thin coat of painting to our image and stamped it onto a piece of construction paper. Each time we stamped it, we added a little more paint. I’m so happy with the way it turned out. Each stamp was unique, just like the soldiers in real life were. Plus, it really did look like rows of soldiers that might have been in the tomb.
Milky Way
Sometimes we don’t actually do a craft or activity, but we still learn quite a bit! An example of this is when we looked further into the legend of the silk weaver and farmer. The legend is brought up in the story we read and mentions the Milky Way. We watched an awesome video that really broke down the legend with images and explanations that were easy to understand.
After that, my kids found some of our space books and we looked for information about the Milky Way. For days, they were mentioning the milky way after we learned about it, so I know the discussion we had and the video we watched was very memorable for them.
Additional Activities and Links
If you haven’t already, you can download a free unit study guide for Ancient China. This guide will walk you through how I set up our unit studies and lists lessons and activities across multiple subjects. Some of these activities you read about above in this blog post, but there are so many more ideas that we didn’t get to in our family.
This is what I love about creating our own unique unit study. It really fits well with our family. We can go at a pace that brings us joy and not stress. We can do as much or as little as we need, and I hope this unit guide allows you to plan the same sort or study for your own family.
Below are additional links that go along with the guide. Download the guide for more details on the activity and to see how it goes along with our novel:
Chinese Music History from Britannica Online
Books
All of these books came from our library and none are required for this unit study. However, out of all of the books we checked out, these were the most helpful. I list them here to give you some ideas of what to look for at your own library.
- “Magic Tree House #14: Day of the Dragon King” by Mary Pope Osbourne
- “Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: China- Land of the Emperor’s Great Wall”
- What Did the Ancient Chinese Do For Me?” by Patrick Catel
- “Long Ago and Far Away: Ancient China” by Ann Tatlock
- “Ancient China: Beyond the Great Wall” by Muriel L Dubois and Kathleen W. Deady
- “Ancient China: Inside Out” by Kelly Spence
- “Ancient China” (Cultural Atlas for Young People) by Tony Allen
- “D is for Dragon Dance” by Ying Cheng Compestine
- “20 Fun Facts About the Great Wall of China” by Therese Shea
