In May, the Hangzhou YMCA in Zhejiang held two parent-child reading sessions, recognizing that stories can provide inspiration to children.
On May 12, days before the International Day of Families which falls on May 15, the first session was conducted in the Fenghuang community, as part of the Y Creative Support for Family Education initiative of Hangzhou YMCA, said the organizer.
The selected book was The Crocodile Falls in Love with the Giraffe, a children's picture book conveying "what love is" and "how to express love." In the classroom, each child followed the protagonist, Mr. Crocodile, on a vivid and interesting journey of love.
At the beginning, the teacher guided the children to observe details and discern Mr. Crocodile's feelings toward the Giraffe. The group then explored ways to express love from the story of how Mr. Crocodile fell in love. The teacher inspired the children's thinking to help Mr. Crocodile overcome the challenges of pursuing love. Each family discussed and wrote down on paper how the Crocodile could get closer to the Giraffe. Based on their life experiences, these kids came up with many good ideas to help Mr. Crocodile.
Finally, in an interactive activity, parents and children worked together to depict their envisioned endings of the story, using cotton threads and paper sticks to create crafts. The resulting works included houses adorned with flowers, diamond rings, and tightly intertwined ropes. Although the children might not fully understand love yet, their imaginations sketched out happy endings, with the seeds of love sown in their hearts.
In the second session on May 25, they delved into "My Wild Animal Friends," a ten-year-old French girl Tippi's account of her experiences with wild animals in Africa.
The teacher first used pictures of Tippi's close interactions with many animals to evoke students' thoughts, increasing their understanding of the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. During the collaborative activity, the teacher encouraged children to draw scenes from the book based on its descriptions and create crafts to express their feelings using simple materials. During the presentation of their works, the children explained their creations, conveying themes of respecting nature, friendship, mutual support, and growing through courage.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
