A Study Of 5-6 Year Old Children's Knowledge And Experience Of Christmas

Driven by the media and commerce,more and more western traditional festivals appear in the lives of our people,which lead to the debate over whether western festivals should be celebrated.Among that,the children,who as members of the society,are one of the focal points of people' contention,such as how Western festivals affect children's acceptance of Chinese traditional culture.But for young children,what do they know about western festivals and how they truly feel about them?Given on the above questions,this article takes Christmas as the starting point that based on the idea of children's perspectives,studies the 40 children in a kindergarten in Nanjing using qualitative research method,including observation method,interview method and painting analysis method.After finishing the interviews with the 5-6 years old children and the collection of paintings,the research results are mainly described in two aspects:1.what is Christmas all about:to analyze children's understandings for the date,origin and symbols of Christmas;2."how do I celebrate Christmas",which involves in the places,people,gifts etc.and reflects children's feelings and attitudes towards to Christmas.Then,after summarizing and analyzing the materials,the author sums up four questions:the children's Christmas in a consuming background,the multiple meanings of Christmas to young children,the critical thinking of "boycott Christmas",and the advice for celebrating festivals in kindergartens.Finally,the researcher reflects on her own research methods and writings,and puts forward her own opinions on the follow-up research.