Nurture one's heart and cultivate one's integrity! 40 kindergartens in Pudong have become pilot parks for traditional cultural education, showcasing the charm of Beijing and its national style

On September 18th, at the Tianhong Kindergarten in Pudong New Area, a group of 4-year-old children accompanied the music of the Beijing song "On the Pond" to experience the fun of rowing and picking lotus in the "Lotus Pond". In the strong Beijing style children's tone, they felt the charm of national essence.

On that day, the traditional cultural education opera art experience activity of Pudong New Area Kindergarten was held at Tianhong Kindergarten, with hundreds of kindergarten leaders and teachers observing on site. Xiao Bu learned that there are already 40 kindergartens in the new area that have become pilot parks for traditional cultural education. They combine the characteristics of the kindergartens to explore environmental design, curriculum integration, resource introduction, and other aspects, allowing young children to approach traditional culture and fall in love with Chinese art in the experience of opera art activities.

Traditional Chinese opera is a comprehensive art that covers multiple disciplines such as literature, music, art, and performance. Kindergartens carry out opera art experience activities, which are different from other stages of learning? How can children like it? At Tianhong Kindergarten, Xiaobu found the answer.

On the second floor of the Pear Garden Dream Corridor, there are dolls, warriors, and clowns. Cartoon versions of Peking Opera characters are decorated at a height of about 1 meter on one side of the wall, equipped with relevant theme picture books, making it convenient for children to pick up and read at will; On the other side is the experience area, where children can sit down and use colored clay, paintbrushes, ribbons, and other tools to create their favorite Peking Opera characters. In the "Guole Fang", there is a complete collection of various small Beijing Opera instruments, and the background of the small stage is the traditional Chinese palace architecture's ochre red walls

Mao Qinmei, the principal of Tianhong Kindergarten, introduced that the kindergarten integrates the curriculum characteristics of "Chinese culture" with opera art experience activities. In addition to creating cultural environments such as the Pear Garden Dream Corridor, it also encourages young children to experience the "Pear Garden Dream Stage". Through role-playing and imitation, they learn to sing relevant operas and nursery rhymes, and experience the charm of traditional Chinese art through opera art game activities.

In Pudong New Area, there are a total of 40 kindergartens like Tianhong Kindergarten that carry out in-depth activities to experience traditional Chinese opera art and culture. Huang Minjun, Deputy Director of the Teaching and Research Guidance Department of Pudong Education Development Research Institute, introduced that the Municipal Party Committee of Education and Health Work and the Municipal Education Commission are actively promoting the inheritance and development of excellent traditional Chinese culture. Through excellent opera projects on campus, they effectively build a system for the inheritance of excellent traditional Chinese culture on campus. 40 Pudong kindergartens have joined the ranks of traditional culture education pilot parks and are divided into 4 groups. The new district will provide relevant materials and equipment for the pilot park, invite famous opera masters and professional teachers to conduct teacher training, and improve the basic understanding and teaching skills of preschool teachers on traditional Chinese opera art. The pilot kindergarten combines the age characteristics, activity needs, and characteristics of the kindergarten, and carries out exploration tailored to local conditions, working together to create more possibilities for Pudong children to get close to traditional Chinese opera art and culture.

Whether it is environmental creation, curriculum integration, or resource introduction, the "children's perspective" has always been the cornerstone for Pudong Kindergarten to carry out related activities. Xingyu Kindergarten conducted a preliminary survey questionnaire to understand the level of understanding of Chinese opera art among children and parents. It was found that 65% of children have never heard of Beijing opera, while more than 90% of parents strongly support and support their children's participation in traditional opera related activities. These two data also demonstrate from one aspect that it is both necessary and necessary for kindergartens to carry out traditional opera experience activities.

Let the ancient Peking Opera enter the kindergarten life of contemporary children, and Pudong Kindergarten has put in a lot of thought in creating a cultural experience environment. Good Wonderful Kindergarten carries out "opera experience activities" through multiple sensory means, integrating the little things of children in the process into the "wall environment creation" of the activity room; Jinqiao Kindergarten combines the environment of Peking Opera with the folk culture room, and helps children understand Peking Opera through personalized learning according to their needs; Donglu Kindergarten has established a Beijing Opera activity room with a photo wall featuring costumes; Tomorrow's Star Kindergarten uses public areas such as corridors, activity rooms, and multifunctional halls to showcase the unique costumes, facial masks, and interactive multimedia devices of Peking Opera, making passing children curious about Peking Opera culture and stimulating their interest in learning and understanding.

At the event, the senior class children of Tianhong Kindergarten said the following sentence during the "Beijing Opera Cat" picture book reading and exchange activity: "This is our Chinese story!" In the view of He Rong, a preschool education researcher at Shanghai Teachers' Education Institute, this is exactly the significance of the kindergarten's experience of opera art. She said that there are various ways for kindergartens to carry out opera experience activities, but they must be "silent and natural". They focus on providing young children with an experiential channel to approach traditional culture, nurturing their minds and promoting moral enlightenment, rather than aiming to master skills. She hopes that more kindergarten teachers can discover the "learning tentacles" that children are truly interested in during such experiential activities, nurture the budding interests, provide timely support, and plant the seeds of love for traditional Chinese culture in the hearts of children.

Text/Part Photography: Fu Jia

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