Chen Lan returned to her car. The two infant children had woken up. Wenrou Niang and Xiao Shan Niang were each holding one, while her three younger brothers were nearby, playing with them. Wen Kai and Wen Qi each held a rattle, shaking it with a "bo dong bo dong" sound. The two babies also reached out and kicked their legs, making "ah! ah!" sounds in response.
As they were all happily playing, Ming Zhe, feeling left out, squeezed in with a wooden toy gun in his hand. He shouted, "You two have been playing with them for a long time, it's my turn to play with the two babies!" With a forceful push, he made his two brothers fall on their bottoms. Ming Zhe himself tumbled forward. Wenrou Niang and Xiao Shan Niang both burst into laughter. They quickly helped each child up, and Chen Lan also stepped forward to help one. Everyone laughed heartily and in unison.
Chen Lan greeted them all one by one, then took Jia Yao from her mother's arms and sat down beside her.
Wenrou Niang asked as Chen Lan sat down, "Did you figure anything out?"
Chen Lan shook her head and replied, "I compared it with the points you mentioned. Some parts are similar, but others are a bit different?"
Wenrou Niang chuckled and said, "Different people are raised by the same rice. How can people grow according to strict rules? Just observe carefully with this mindset, and you'll get a feel for it."
Chen Lan nodded seriously and agreed, "Yes! I understand, Mother. I'll observe more carefully."
At this moment, the three younger brothers' heads poked over again, their large eyes all looking at Chen Lan.
Chen Lan knew they had something to ask, so she said, "What do you three want?"
Ming Zhe, being the boldest and not afraid of being scolded, said, "Sister-in-law, Xiang Dong Ge and Er Hu Ge have gone to have fun, and we want to have fun too. Sister-in-law, will you play games with us?"
Chen Lan thought for a moment. Indeed, "It's time for them to relax a bit. They can't just study all the time. We should have an edutainment game that is both fun and helps them learn and consolidate what they've learned."
As the saying goes, "Reading ten thousand books leads to divine writing," which shows that reading is a continuous accumulation process, and the accumulation of "characters and words" is particularly crucial.
Chen Lan mumbled, "characters, words," and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Characters and words" put together form idioms, don't they?
Idioms are a treasure in Chinese language and literature, the essence of refined language. To learn language and literature well, mastering a large number of idiomatic vocabulary is essential. If children master and memorize more words from a young age, it will not only improve their language expression ability but also enhance their future writing skills.
More importantly, it can improve their cultural literacy and cultivate good learning habits.
Yes, this is it. Let's play the idiom-connecting game!
Chen Lan made a final decision and said to her three younger brothers, "Let's play the idiom-connecting game, what do you think?"
Seeing that her three younger brothers seemed uninterested, she immediately sweetened the deal, enticing them, "There are many prizes!"
The three immediately asked, "What prizes are there?"
Chen Lan continued to entice them, "There are many! Picture books, pens, notebooks, snacks, toys, and so on. These are small prizes. The most important grand prize is a Chinese map puzzle board. You've never played this puzzle game before."
Wen Kai stepped forward and asked, "Big Sister, is this puzzle game fun?"
Chen Lan said, "You might not believe me if I say it's fun, but I guarantee that once you start playing, you won't want to stop."
Hearing how fun it was, the three immediately agreed to play the idiom-connecting game.
Chen Lan felt that the idiom-connecting game would be more fun with more people, so she said to her three younger brothers, "You three go and call Grandma, Cui Mama, Cui Qiao, Xiao Shi Tou, Zhao Xiao Yue, Ming Wei, Lin Mai, Hu Yu Zhen, Liu Mama, and Hu Tou over. This game is more fun with more people. Make sure to invite everyone. Remember to tell them there are many prizes they'll want!"
The three little ones immediately sprang into action, put on their umbrellas, and went to call everyone.
Chen Lan also hurried into the kitchen to buy and retrieve the activity prizes from the system.
For the children, there were toys and school supplies. For the women, the prizes were even more abundant: imitation hair flowers, crystal hair clips, cold cream, lipstick, clam oil, silk scarves, silver earrings, and silver bracelets. Chen Lan also bought a small drum to use for signaling.
When Chen Lan came out with a large bag of purchased items, Wenrou Niang said to her, "Lan'er, this idiom-connecting game you mentioned is good. Both adults and children can play it, and it's very fun. We often played it when we were young."
Wenrou Niang continued, "The idiom-connecting game is both fun and educational. It greatly alleviates the boredom and pressure of children's studies, and it also promotes their learning enthusiasm. By learning and using idioms through games, I believe it will be of great help in their future Chinese language studies."
"Lan'er, I see you have a small drum there. What's this? Are you going to be the leader?"
Chen Lan smiled happily and replied, "Not only will I be the leader, but I also have many prizes to give out!" As she spoke, she took out the prizes one by one to show her mother, "Mother, look, aren't the prizes abundant enough?"
When Wenrou Niang saw so many prizes, she also became interested and said, "Xiao Shan Niang, let's join too! This game is very fun."
Xiao Shan Niang said hesitantly, "But I don't know the idioms you mentioned!" Her mother was at a loss when she said this!
Chen Lan quickly added, "It's okay if you don't know. You just need to say four characters, as long as the meaning is clear."
Seeing that Xiao Shan Niang still didn't understand, and Wenrou Niang also looked confused, Chen Lan quickly explained, "Let me give you an example. If the person before you says (狂风暴雨 - kuáng fēng bào yǔ - fierce wind and heavy rain), you can say (雨一直下 - yǔ yī zhí xià - the rain keeps falling). The person after you must then start with the character '下' (xià) and say an idiom of four characters or a sentence of no more than four characters." In this way, you connect to the last character of the word or sentence spoken by the person before you.
After hearing Chen Lan's explanation, Xiao Shan Niang was eager to try and expressed her desire to participate.
As they were discussing how to play the idiom-connecting game, Wen Kai was the first to open the car door and come in. Following him were Grandma, Ming Wei, Cui Qiao, and Xiao Shi Tou. Then came Ming Zhe and the invited Cui Mama, Zhao Xiao Yue, and Lin Mai. Finally, Ming Zhe invited Liu Mama, Hu Yu Zhen, and Hu Tou.
As soon as they entered, they greeted each other! Grandma spoke first, "Xiao Lan, Wen Kai said you asked us to come play that... idiom-connecting game, right? But some of us don't read much and don't know what idioms are, so how can we play?"
Chen Lan repeated what she had just told Xiao Shan Niang, and asked everyone, "Is it not difficult now?"
Everyone replied in unison, "Not difficult, we can do this."
Chen Lan pointed to the small drum and continued, "There are requirements for playing this game. The person connecting the idioms must answer before the drum is tapped ten times, otherwise, they will be punished."
Everyone looked at Chen Lan in unison and asked, "What punishment?"
Chen Lan replied, "It's very simple. Singing, telling jokes, performing a segment of opera, doing crosstalk, and so on are all acceptable."
Everyone then asked in unison, "If we answer correctly, are there any rewards?"
Chen Lan pointed to the pile of prizes she had just shown to Wenrou Niang and Xiao Shan Niang, saying, "Look here, do you like them?"
Chen Lan heard exclamations of surprise from everyone, "My heavens, so many prizes, and they are all rare treasures!"