On November 28th, 2015, You Dao hosted the annual Thanksgiving Day activities at the Beiyaowan center. At 10 a.m., the children arrived early to the Beiyaowan center and to help arrange the classroom, writing "Thanksgiving You Dao" on the blackboard and blowing up balloons to decorate the room. The volunteers arrived soon after.
At 10:30, the Thanksgiving activities started. To start there were two warm-up outdoor activities. The first activity was to have groups use a spoon to transfer small snacks from one place to another. The team that could transfer the most snacks would win. The second game was quite similar, having the children use straws to pass around a rubber band. The children were divided into four groups for the activities. The children and volunteers were involved in the two games, and even though there was a language barrier, everyone had a good time. After two games, the children and volunteers all became much closer.
After finishing the games, the children entered the classroom in an orderly manner, then we began the second part of the activities: making Thanksgiving cards.
The children made their own card with the help of the volunteers and used their creativity and imagination to design some beautiful cards. Some children wrote a card for his or her mother and some made a card for their teachers. When they were done the children stuck their cards on the “Thanksgiving” blackboard.
After making cards, the volunteers shared cakes and biscuits with the children. When some volunteers were preparing cakes and biscuit, children began to sing a song, “little stars”, led by a volunteer, and also learned another English song. The atmosphere was very joyous.
Before the activities were over, the children thanked the volunteers for spending a morning to accompany them. The volunteers also brought a lot of fragrant flowers and books as a gift for children. We all hope that children are able to be grateful, loving life and learning. The event was very successful.
We would like to especially thank all of the volunteers who made this event possible.