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Mother’s Day 母親節

Mother’s Day is celebrated at many different times around the world. Many countries celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of the month of May. Here are some resources that you can use to celebrate Mother’s Day or learn about different mothers.

Mother’s Day Vocabulary

Here are some relevant vocabulary you can teach your child for Mother’s Day. Below is in traditional/simplified Chinese characters and includes the jyutping for Cantonese pronunciation).

  • 母親節/母亲节 (mou5 can1 zit3 | Mother’s Day)
  • 母親節快樂/母亲节快乐 (mou5 can1 zit3 faai3 lok6 | Happy Mother’s Day)
  • 媽媽/妈妈 (maa4 maa1 | mother)
  • 媽咪/妈咪 (maa1 mi4 | mommy)
  • 嫲嫲 (maa4 maa4 | paternal grandmother)
  • 婆婆 (po4 po2 | maternal grandmother)
  • 我愛你/我爱你 (ngo5 oi3 nei5 | I love you)
  • 親愛的媽媽/亲爱的妈妈 (can1 oi3 dik1 maa4 maa1 | Dear mom)

Mother’s Day Activities

For a simple no prep activity, download and print colouring sheets. This is great for toddlers all the way up to grade school children and does not require any specific skills.

Sweet Note Learning | Mina Learns Chinese

For a little more creativity, download these Mother’s Day card or heart templates. Customize and decorate them to your child’s desires. Great for preschool children and up who can handle scissors and glue.

Sweet Note Learning Card | Sweet Note Learning Hearts | Spot of Sunshine Card

For moms whose love language is acts of service, here is a list of items the family can do together to help around the house and make mom feel special. Presented in a fun BINGO chart, the kids will want to do it all.

Sweet Note Learning

For older children who can write, download this printable to learn what the kids know about their mom and why they love her

Sweet Note Learning

Mother’s Day Songs

容祖兒 (Joey Yung) – 世上只有

奇音樂奇世界 – 期待著媽媽

黐住這一家 Sticky Love Family – Super 媽咪

Che Che Music – 我的媽媽

小水滴與木頭仔的兒歌世界 Waterboy and Babywood Kids Channel – 媽媽,我永遠愛你

Mother’s Day Books & Stories

最喜歡媽媽了!

(I love Mommy the most!)

ISBN:9786267043981

Buy it in:

Click here for: YouTube Read Aloud (Cantonese)

媽媽買綠豆

(Let’s Get Mung Beans!)

ISBN:9789861612607

Buy it in:

Click here for: YouTube Read Aloud (Cantonese)

因為媽咪愛你!

(Because Mommy Loves You!)

ISBN:9789862115268

Buy it in:

媽媽的一碗湯

(Mama’s Bowl of Soup)

ISBN:9789861898179

Buy it in:

媽媽上班的時候會想我嗎?

(Will Mama Miss me at Work?)

ISBN:9789865925772

Buy it in:

Click here for: YouTube Read Aloud (Cantonese)

小雞到外婆家

(Little Chicks Visit Grandma)

ISBN:9786267043097

Buy it in:

Click here for: YouTube Read Aloud (Cantonese)

我的嫲嫲/我的婆婆

(My Grandma)

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09ZQ3P9C7/B09YCN8JB3

Buy it in:

Two versions available: both versions are paternal grandma depending on dialect

Click here for: YouTube Read Aloud (Cantonese)

畀婆婆嘅禮物

(A Gift for Popo)

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1953281923

Buy it in:

Other versions available: Standard traditional & simplified Chinese with pinyin and English

Click here for: YouTube Read Aloud (Cantonese)

Mother’s Day Videos

Kala EE – Learning Caring Baby & Mother

麥兜 – 母親節感人至深小故事

Jacey Learning – Mother’s Day 母親節

More Cantonese Children Apps and Resources

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Heart Messages for Valentine’s Day and Everyday

Valentine’s Day is a great reminder for us to show our appreciation and love to those around us. It’s also a great time to teach one to love oneself as well. I wanted to teach my girls self-love, appreciation and positivity. I was inspired to create these after seeing Spot of Sunshine and CHALK academy Valentine’s Day hearts. I could not find any in Cantonese so I decided to create my own. These heart messages are bilingual with Cantonese (jyutping option available) and English phrases, our family language. By having them written down I hope that it will normalize and make saying these phrases more natural in Cantonese. These positive affirmations and loving messages can be used and displayed all year round.

How to use these heart messages:

  • download and print on regular or colour paper or card stock
  • cut out each heart, 24 in total
  • give to child directly
  • use as wall decorations
  • create a garland to display messages

Vocabulary for Valentine’s Day (Cantonese | Jyutping | English)

  • 情人節 (cing4 jan4 zit3 | Valentine’s Day)
  • 情人節快樂 (cing4 jan4 zit3 faai3 lok6 | Happy Valentine’s Day)
  • 愛 (oi3 | love)
  • 我愛你 (ngo5 oi3 nei5 | I love you)
  • 鍾意 (zung1 ji3 | like)
  • 我鍾意你 (ngo5 zung1 ji3 nei5 | I like you)

Download the Cantonese & English Heart Messages here. Available with and without jyutping.

Also check out these Mandarin Heart Messages by these other amazing mom creators:

More Cantonese Children Apps and Resources

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My First Bilingual Busy Book

You can purchase My First Bilingual Busy Book 快樂學習廣東話 or 快樂學習普通話 in Cantonese or Mandarin here. It is available in traditional or simplified characters with the corresponding pronunciation guide (jyutping or pinyin).

Update: The video below is the original version created in 2021. The newest edition (2023) is bilingual with English and Chinese and contains more language options for Chinese, image below.

I’m so happy to share with you another activity book. This book was made in request by another parent. This one is geared towards young children (toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarten, early primary). It includes a lot of first words that your child will find helpful. This activity book was designed to be interactive and to be used more than once so that they can really learn the vocabulary. Kids learn best through repetition, consistency and through play. You may have seen this kind of book available in English. It goes by other names such as busy book or learning binder. If you are unfamiliar with these types of books, please read on.

Essentially, the pages in these books work like a puzzle. There is one correct position for the pieces and the child has to match it to the correct spot. I have included many hints to help your child do this independently such as, colour coding pieces to its correct spot and including silhouettes or outlines for your child to match. Every pieces has its corresponding Chinese character to help your child learn to identify characters. For this book, the Chinese characters that were chosen were spoken Cantonese words so the child can use them in speech. Jyutping is included for parents who are unable to read Chinese characters. Also, a QR code is available on each page that provides the audio from a native speaker for each word as well. You might recognize the voice. It’s from one of the co-founders of Little Kozzi, Charing. With these, I hope that you and your child are able to expand your vocabulary and become more comfortable including Cantonese apart of your everyday speech.

Note: This video contains a sample of the old version created in 2021.

In addition to the matching pages, I have given your child an opportunity to start on writing. You will find two pages with the eight most common Chinese strokes. Your child can practice writing them in a fun way by finishing the picture. The page that introduces numbers also includes a colour-coded stroke order to help your child learn about sequence and learn that Chinese writing follows an order. For the car page, the page with the large 車, your child can use the cars provided, and drive the car following the stroke order.

The book covers a range of topics, sample pages below:

  • Numbers
  • Shapes
  • Colours
  • Emotions
  • 12 Zodiac Animals
  • Kitchenware
  • Time
  • Music
  • Calendar, weather, seasons
  • Emergency and construction vehicles
  • Chinese strokes and character symmetry
My First Bilingual Busy Book contains 24 pages of playing and learning.

How to Construct the Book

There are many ways that you can construct this book. I will write some recommendations here. Please note, the hard part of constructing this book is cutting out each individual piece. You do not have to complete it in one sitting. If time is an issue, I would start off by cutting the pieces for the main pages that you want to learn first, and as your child starts to master the vocabulary, add on more pages and pieces so that you and your child is not overwhelmed.

• You will need Adobe Reader to open the PDF file. It can be downloaded for FREE at: http://get.adobe.com/reader/

To assemble this learning binder you will need:

  • colour printer
  • white paper/cardstock
  • a laminating machine (like this) and laminating pouches (like this or like this) *See notes at bottom of page
  • clear velcro dots (hook and loop dots)(like this)
  • paper fastener (brad fastener/split pin)(like this)
  • scissors
  • ring binder

ASSEMBLY

  • Prepare your materials.
  • Print all the pages with a colour printer (*at home or printing services).
  • Laminate the pages (*at home or laminating services). Cut out pieces you may choose to laminate whole page and then cut. Alternatively, you may choose to cut, laminate and cut again.
  • Cut out pieces. For some of the pieces, you can choose to cut close to the image or leave some extra space around the image (i.e. continents cut out pieces).
  • Affix velcro dots to the worksheet and pages. Use clear hoop and loop dots to have words or images still visible.
  • Punch a small hole into clock hands and centre of clock. Fasten the hands with a paper fastener.
  • Insert pages to a ring binder.
  • Use a dry erase or washable marker for written tasks.

There is no one correct method of utilizing a learning binder. Find what works best for your family. Here are some suggestions to guide you through the process.

  • Find a quiet space that is free from clutter.
  • Choose a time that your child is ready to learn (nourished and rested)
  • Work through one page at a time.
  • Place activity in a tray or work from the binder.
  • Your child can remove the pieces themselves (fine motor skill strengthening). You may also choose to have the pieces removed and placed on the table or in a small tray.
  • Invite your child to join you in a new activity.
  • Point to a piece and call it by the correct name. Example, red colour, say “紅色” (red colour in Cantonese is hung4 sik1). Invite your child to say the new word. Look at the worksheet together. Point out the red colour. Say “red” again. Show them how to place it on the worksheet connecting the velcro dots so it sticks. Let your child choose a piece. Call it by name if child doesn’t say it. Encourage the child to do the tasks independently while introducing new words if child does not voice it.
  • Repetition is apart of learning. Allow your child to do the activity again if they want to before moving to a new page.

*If you do not own a printer or laminator, you can bring the file to a specialty store that can help you print and laminate it. You might find printing services at your local library, pharmacy, courier store or technology store. Please call to find out about pricing. There are also self laminating sheets (like this, like this, or like this) where you do not need to use a laminating machine. I have not use these before, but they look like they should be fairly easy to use. You may also use sheet protectors (like this). Please note, with sheet protectors it is harder for the child to pull the pieces off with the velcro since it’s more flexible and movable. This only works for the full pages and not the individual pieces.

*You may also choose to use this one time by just making this a gluing activity. Once they are complete, you can make it into a book to read.

You can purchase My First Bilingual Busy Book 快樂學習廣東話 or 快樂學習普通話 in Cantonese or Mandarin here. It is available in traditional or simplified characters with the corresponding pronunciation guide (jyutping or pinyin).

First Words Poster

Also check out the poster version of the book. You can simply print and display the posters in your home space to create a print-rich home to increase exposure to Chinese. Available in Cantonese, Mandarin and with simplifed or traditional characters: First Words Poster.

More Cantonese Children Apps and Resources

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