GEORGE TOWN: Eight kindergarten children learnt about the values of sharing and togetherness while having fun making the multi-coloured tang yuan balls (glutinous rice flour balls).
Cheryl Lee, five, said she was happy and excited to roll the dough mixed in her favourite colour at the Dragonfly The Champs kindergarten in Sungai Ara here.
“I like the part where we choose and mix our favourite colour into the dough the most.
“It is very fun and I want to share my tang yuan with my parents after class,” she said when met here yesterday.
Lee was among eight children, all five-years-old, who took part in the tang yuan making session held to mark the Winter Solstice Festival celebrated by the Chinese community today.
The celebration marks the beginning of winter where daytime is the shortest in the northern hemisphere.
Another student, Khor Jui Boon, who was seen rolling green coloured tang yuan, said he was also excited to learn about the celebration.
“I love green and I am happy to roll my own rice balls. I want to share this with my mum after this,” he said.
Class teacher Hoh Swee Tow, who led the session, said all children in the kindergarten would be involved making tang yuan.
“We are teaching them how, why and what we do during the Winter Solstice Festival. I think there has never been a more fitting time for them to learn and recognise the importance of the festival, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Hoh said the festival emphasised cultural elements and values like family and togetherness.
“When we say tang yuan, we want our families to be ‘tuan yuan’ (together) and this is an important value especially since families these days can be busy. Most parents may be working and as such, it is important for the school to teach the young ones about the importance of such celebrations.
“Hopefully through our young ones, the message and importance of such celebrations can be brought home and they can enjoy a loving time making tang yuan with their parents,” she added.