Okay, today I wanted to make a Chinese zodiac worksheet. Let’s get this show on the road.
First, I fired up my computer and opened up the browser. Then, I typed “Chinese zodiac” into the search bar. The search results popped up. The Chinese animal zodiac, or shengxiao, is a repeating cycle of 12 years. Sounds interesting, this is exactly what I’m looking for.
Then I went ahead and made a new document. I decided to start with a matching activity. You know, something simple to warm up. So, I jotted down “Chinese Zodiac 1. Match them up” at the top of the page.
Next, I needed to gather the animals of the Chinese zodiac. From what I read, there are 12 of them, and they repeat every 12 years. The first one is the rat, which is associated with the first branch of the Earthly Branch symbol 子 (zǐ). And the Chinese word shǔ (鼠) refers to various small rodents, such as rats and mice. I made a note of that.
Here’s what I did for the matching activity:
- Listed the 12 animals on one side.
- Scrambled up the years or maybe some personality traits on the other side.
- Left some space for people to draw lines and match them up.
After setting up the matching activity, I thought it would be cool to add a bit more info about each animal. A zodiac sign in the Chinese calendar is an animal that represents each year in a 12-year cycle. After 12 years, the cycle begins again with the year of the rat. Many people believe that you have the character traits, or parts of your personality. So, I created a section where I briefly described what each animal represents. Nothing too fancy, just a quick rundown.
And there you have it. That’s how I made my Chinese zodiac worksheet. It was a fun little project, and I think it turned out pretty well. If you’re looking for a simple activity to learn more about the Chinese zodiac, maybe give this a try.
