月儿圆圆 - A Simple Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Song for Toddlers

Lately, Little P has been making up his own nonsense chinese lyrics to go with tunes that he knows. In this post, I would like to share with you – 月儿圆圆 – a simple Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Song for those of you whose toddlers love singing!

When it comes to helping my little one be comfortable and confident in speaking his mother tongue, the three main things I find helpful for me are:

Modeling speaking the Chinese language by itself (i.e. no mixing with English/Singlish) 95% of the time
Singing songs to him in Chinese
Reading lots of Chinese books with him.

Therefore, besides a song relevant to the occasion, in the later part of the post I will also detail some of the books we are reading this Mid-Autumn Festival week!

Let’s get started!

A Mid-Autumn Festival-themed box

The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner so it was a good time to take out our Mooncake box from last year. This box is full of bits and bobs from last year’s Mid-Autumn Festival.

Assorted mid-autumn festival materials in my re-used mooncake box. Including picture cards for 月儿圆圆 - A Simple Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Song for Toddlers — Assorted mid-autumn festival materials in my re-used mooncake box.
(1) Mooncake box for staring the material.
(2) Paper lantern and mini light bulb. (6) Random bits for crafting/pasting onto the lantern.
Both (2) and (6) are from music class.
(3) Chinese character printouts of the festival name.
(4) Free mooncake pamphlet from random bakery. Useful for naming colours, flavours and talking about local mooncake culture.
(5) Picture cards with relevant keywords to a mid-autumn festival song.
(7) Random disposable chopstick to use to hang the lantern on.

After looking through the contents inside with Little P – lanterns, mooncake pamphlet, picture cards with keywords for a Mid-Autumn festival song for toddlers – I realised I had forgotten the lyrics to the song! 🤦‍♀️

The great thing about the Internet is, you can search and maybe even find what you were looking for!

月儿圆圆 – A Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Song for Toddlers

Tada! The lyrics:

月儿圆圆挂天边，
饼儿圆圆甜又甜，
脸儿圆圆笑翻了天，
桌儿圆圆庆团圆！
(Rough translation:
The round, round moon hangs in the sky,
The round, round mooncake sweet, so sweet,
The round, round faces laughing hilariously,
At the round, round table we celebrate our reunion.)
shali. (2010, September 17). 幼儿园歌曲律动：月儿圆圆mp3-中秋节. 06abc.com. Retrieved September 14, 2021.

Song keywords picture cards for Little P. The photos show the round objects in 月儿圆圆 - A Simple Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Song for Toddlers — Song picture cards with keywords for Little P. The photos show the round objects in the song. Little P is not reading yet so the Chinese characters are there to create a print rich environment. But my focus when using these cards are on matching the photo objects to the lyrics as we sing the 月儿圆圆 (Round, round moon) mid-autumn festival song for toddlers.
**Download my updated printable file of these picture cards here.**

download banner for mid-autumn festival song chinese keyword picture cards

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I prefer adhering my home-printed picture cards to such 4×4 inch wood slices because I find them more hardy than laminated cards for 18-36-month-old toddlers.

You can check out the reviews and buy them on Amazon.

Let’s learn to sing this Mid-Autumn Festival song!

Now we have the lyrics. You may be wondering what does this song sound like? Look what I found – a Youtube video with the song!

In case the video of this mid-autumn festival song for toddlers doesn’t load, you can see it here – https://youtu.be/akR114gP0rg

Now I know I remembered the tune quite accurately! :P I just forgot exactly how the lyrics went.

I really like this song for young children age 1 to 3 simply because of its simplicity. Just 4 lines with “圆圆 (round round)” on repeat to support better memory retention. Also, it refers to round things that are a very cultural part of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.

Many thanks to The Joy Connections Studio for introducing the song to us in the first place.

Other Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Songs with different themes for varying ages

While there are many nice Mid-Autumn Festival songs that you can find on Youtube, they can be much longer, wordier and take more effort for mom to learn. LOL. Here are some longer songs I KIV to share with Little P next year. Or the year after next… etc. Hur hur hur.

Song about the phases of the moon (also an insidious Coffee advertisement by Ah Huat coffee but hey, it’s relatively short at 0.36min! :P) – 亞發之Huat好月圆庆中秋 (0.36min)
Song about different types of mooncakes – 中秋节月饼歌 (5min)
Not so kiddy songs – 明月光 (3.25min) | 我們的月亮一定圓 (3min) | 但愿人长久 – Faye Wong original (5.55min) | 但愿人长久 – A capella version (2.27min)
SMUCOmusic – 《缤纷中秋乐》Moonlight Kaleidoscope | SMUCO 新大华乐团

Other Language Development Activities: Reading Chinese books that are more or less related to the Mid-Autumn Festival

Of course, we read some Moon and Mid-Autumn Festival-related books. Here they are!

中秋节 (Mid-Autumn Festival)

编: 许萍萍

Photo of mooncake making illustrations in a children's Chinese-language picture book. Inside the book "中秋节", you will find the book characters making mooncakes. - A Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Book for Toddlers — Inside the book “中秋节 (Mid-Autumn Festival)”, you will find the characters making mooncakes.

In this book, the protagonist is a little girl who makes mooncakes with her grandmother and neighbour. They talk about mooncake fillings. She specified that she wants to eat osmanthus mooncakes.

How historically mooncakes came about was weaved into the book in the part where the neighbour tells the protagonist the story as they made their mooncakes.

Photo of ancient china illustrations in a children's Chinese-language picture book. Transitioning into story-telling with a different font. - A Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Book for Toddlers — Transitioning into story-telling of how historically mooncakes came about using a different font.

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Post-It Labeling & Cover-up tape are a great way to label pinyin for the words you find hard to remember how to pronounce. Just like how I labelled the “jué” pinyin here.

It sticks securely and removes cleanly. Great to use with library books that we borrow! I use the 1/6 inch tape in this photo, but if you find it too narrow to write on there are 1/3 inch tape too! Check it out and buy on AmazonSmile! 0.5% of your purchase price gets donated to charity at no extra cost to you.

When it comes to the legends associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival, the book briefly mentions Chang-e and the Jade Rabbit. However it does not go into detail at all. For parents of young toddlers following the Montessori method and who are keen to miss out the fantastical parts for children under 6 years old, it’s a matter of just skipping the page.

The book does not tell you right out the traditions of the festival, but the storyline itself will show you these elements. For example. the neighbour’s family returns from the city to have a reunion during this day. They bring back gifts of mooncakes as a show of filial piety. The family sits together to eat mooncakes and look at the moon (赏月). When it turns dark, the children play with lanterns.

Photo of book cover of a children's Chinese-language picture book. This book shares mainly about mooncakes in the context of the Mid-Autumn Festival. - A Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Book for Toddlers — On the cover of the book “中秋节 (Mid-Autumn Festival)”, two little girls eat mooncakes while looking at the moon. One of them is holding a lantern.

As the book originated from China, there are cultural mentions that are not relevant to Singapore, such as clay Lord Rabbit figurines (兔儿爷). However, that is still interesting. It’s a way for Little P to learn to appreciate cultural diversity and understand that there can be differences in culture even among people who celebrate the same festival.

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月亮是什么? (What is the moon?)

Author: Katie Daynes

Book cover of What is the moon? Ursborne's Lift the Flap Very First Questions and Answers book about the Moon in Chinese. - A Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Book for Toddlers — “What is the moon?” Usborne’s Lift the Flap Very First Questions and Answers book about the Moon in Chinese.

This is Usborne’s Lift the Flap Very First Questions and Answers book about the Moon, but in Chinese!

To be honest, I think the whole series maybe be more suitable for the 3 to 6-year-old crowd. That said, Little P enjoyed the few Usborne Lift-the-Flap books that we have in our personal library so I thought I would borrow this from our public library.

This page of What is the moon? asks What shape is the moon? It gives you the Chinese vocabulary that describes the shape as well as the phase of the moon it is in. - A Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Book for Toddlers — This page of “What is the moon?” asks What shape is the moon? It gives you the Chinese vocabulary that describes the shape as well as the phase of the moon it is in.

This page of What is the moon? talks about what the moon is made of and why it appears to shine. - A Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Book for Toddlers — “This page of What is the moon?” talks about what the moon is made of and why it appears to shine.

This page of What is the moon? talks about the physical characteristics of the moon that you will encounter should you explore the surface of the moon. - A Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Book for Toddlers — This page of “What is the moon?” talks about the physical characteristics of the moon that you will encounter should you explore the surface of the moon.

The Usborne Lift the Flap Very First Questions and Answers books are all very factual and science-y. I do find this series fairly Montessori-aligned in this regard.

Search “月亮是什么” to check its availability at your local library at the National Library Board (Singapore) website.

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Not in Singapore? Check out the Chinese version here and the original English book here on Amazon.

恐龙 (Dinosaurs)

Author: Sara Hurst

Yet another book with text that I think is more appropriate for the 3-6 crowd. However the interactivity of this book will appeal to the under 3s like Little P.

I am including this book in a Mid-Autumn Festival post because it can be used together with that little lantern lightbulb I have in my Mooncake box! 恐龙 (Dinosaurs) is essentially a Shine-A-Light book. Find hidden dinosaurs and dinosaur bones when you shine a light through the pages!

I have my little green lantern lightbulb shining on the red banner on the cover of this 恐龙 (Dinosaur) book. The red banner roughly says "The picture book that lets you shine a light to see-through to the other side of the page." - 恐龙 (Dinosaurs) book — I have my little green lightbulb shining on the red banner on the cover of this 恐龙 (Dinosaurs) book. The red banner roughly says “The picture book that lets you shine a light to see-through to the other side of the page.”

This is another way to extend kiddo’s experience of lanterns and shining light through paper! Toddlers interested in dinosaurs or playing with light will surely find this book entertaining. Little P certainly did.

Can you see the dinosaur being lighted up from behind the page? Without the light, all you will see are the green leaves. - inside 恐龙 (Dinosaurs) book — Can you see the 皮萨诺龙 (pisanosaurus) being lighted up from behind the page? Without the light, all you will see are the green leaves.

On this page, the light reveals the internal bones of this 始祖鸟 (Archaeopteryx) - inside 恐龙 (Dinosaurs) book — On this page, the light reveals the internal bones of this 始祖鸟 (Archaeopteryx).

Shine a light to reveal what fossils are buried under the rock - inside 恐龙 (Dinosaurs) book — Shine a light to reveal what fossils are buried under the rock.

Here are some of the dinosaurs featured in this book - inside 恐龙 (Dinosaurs) book — Here are some of the dinosaurs featured in this book.

Search “恐龙 = Dinosaurs” to check its availability at your local library at the National Library Board (Singapore) website.

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Not in Singapore? Check out the original English book here on Amazon.

Ending with a quote on Maria Montessori’s understanding of culture.

Culture as a means of development in the formative periods – Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori understands it (culture) to refer to ideas, customs, and knowledge of the world and, as usual argues passionately that the human being can never be too young to be offered culture in a structured and organised fashion.
Montessori, M. (1938). CULTURE AS A MEANS OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE FORMATIVE PERIODS. AMI Journal — Archival Treasure Publication, (2016), 2. RETRIEVED SEPTEMBER 14, 2021.