Extensions & Connections
Research clothing styles from a country and how that clothing is specific (or not specific) to a particular group of people. Ask them to consider symbols, colors, style, and form in connection to identity. (Social Studies and Visual Arts).

Create maps of where clothing styles originate and to where they travel. Start by focusing on the country of origin for the style, and then create paths showing where the style has then been incorporated into other cultures and societies. (Geography).

Do a dyeing project focusing on natural dyes used in various countries, or in your local area. Use plants and natural mordents for the project, discussing how the plants create the dye, and how the mordent fixes the dye in the cloth. Have students chart the ecosystems in which various plants for dyeing are grown. Also, have students create color charts showing which plants create which colors. (Science and Geography).

Write an autobiographical story involving the students' favorite outfit. Have them focus on the outfit, memories about where they wore the outfit, and who made it for them or bought it for them, etc. Ask the students to compare and contrast the outfit to that of a friend or relative of the opposite sex. (Language Arts).

Make patterns for clothing. Focus on measuring the various sections correctly. Use patterns to make an article of clothing, or an entire outfit. (Mathematics and Creative Arts.)


Making a Chinese Hat

Objectives
1. Students will understand that people in China decorate hats with protective symbols to ensure the health and well being of their children (historical and cultural understanding).
2. Students will recognize the different symbolic elements of Chinese hats and shoes for children and what they represent (perceiving, analyzing, and responding).
3. Students will learn how to make their own hat with symbolic protective elements (creating and performing).

New Mexico State Content Standards
Social Studies 1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14
Arts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Vocabulary
Amulet: a charm (as an ornament) often inscribed with a magic incantation or symbol to
protect the wearer against evil (as disease or witchcraft) or to aid the wearer
Hat: a covering for the head usually having a shaped crown and brim
Headdress: a covering for the head, usually elaborate
Motif: a single or repeated design or color
Protection: a state of being covered or shielded from exposure, injury, or destruction
Symbol: something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship,
association, convention, or accidental resemblance, especially a visible sign of
something invisible

Materials
You will need heavy gauge wire, newspaper, felt strips about 2-3" wide, 6" x 9" sheets of craft foam, templates of animal and floral images, tacky glue, glue brushes, containers for glue, scissors, hole punch, washable markers, bells, raffia, beads with big holes, amulets, pom-poms, sequins, ribbon, foil, feathers, and other decorative items of your choosing. Wire should be cut into pieces 28"- 32" long. Templates should be made of cardboard and should fit onto a 6" x 9" sheet of craft foam.

Motivation
1. Ask questions of the students about hats and their protective factors. (Why do we wear hats? Do hats protect us? In what ways do hats protect us?)
2. Ask questions of students relating to cultural use of symbols as protective elements. Hold up any examples of pictures of hats from various countries. (Do you think that each culture has a different way of making hats? Are there different sorts of symbols that are used by different cultures? What sorts of symbols do you see on these hats? What do you think these symbols might stand for or from what do they protect the wearer?)
3. Hold up examples of Chinese hats. Explain some of the symbols seen on the hats (see vocabulary list with explanations of symbols). (Why are there different forms for these hats? What sorts of protection do they give the wearer?)
4. Ask students to think of one or two things that they encounter daily from which they would like to protect themselves. Have two or three students share their ideas.
5. Explain that the students are going to make protective hats incorporating items they think might help protect them in daily life. Hold up an example of a hat that you have made. Demonstrate the project for the students.

Procedure
1. Create crowns for base of hat. Roll a full sized piece of newspaper into a tube, with a piece of wire in the middle of the tube. Tape end of wire and newspaper together and then twist wire and newspaper into a tight tube. Tape both ends. Fit tube around head. Twist ends together to form crown and tape twisted connection.
2. Using felt strips, cover newspaper and wire crown by wrapping felt tightly around crown. First place glue on a section of the newspaper with glue brush, and then wrap the felt onto the crown, as if wrapping a bandage around an ankle or wrapping a mummy.
3. Using templates of animal images or floral images (or self-designed image), trace template onto craft foam. Foam cut out will be the frontal piece of the hat. Explain that students may want to save leftover pieces of foam for other decorations. Limit students to one piece of foam per student. Cut out image from foam. Punch an even number of holes in the bottom of the foam. Attach foam to crown using pipe cleaners woven through holes and then wrapped around the crown. This will require assistance for younger students.
4. Decorate the front piece of hat and the crown using feathers, beads, sequins, bells, amulets, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, etc. Explain various ways of using materials, including weaving decorations through foam frontal piece, gluing on objects, or tying them on.

Evaluation
Have students explain to classmates what protective elements are incorporated into their hats and what they are protecting themselves from. Also, have students look at each other's hats and discuss what they think their classmates included as protective elements.

Have students put on hats and do a hat parade through the classroom, or through the school.

Extensions & Connections
Have students write a short story explaining in detail a situation in which they needed protection. Ask them to include the strategies they used or could have used to protect themselves in the situation (Language Arts).

Have students do role-playing activities about the members of their community that play protective roles. Have each student create a monologue explaining his or her job (doctor, nurse, EMT, firefighter, policeman, teacher, etc.). Encourage students to do interviews with these people to create monologue. Create a roundtable where the students try to solve a community problem based on the role they are playing in the community (Language Arts, Problem-solving, Performance Arts).

Have students research the symbols of Chinese hats. Ask them to choose a hat from a selection of images. Students should report on the symbols present on the hat, what they mean, if those symbols are used in all of China or only in certain regions, what group of people use these hats (if they are specific to one cultural group), and the historical use of the symbol (Social Studies and Geography).

Choose images of hats from various regions of China, preferably the number of students in your class. Ask each student to choose a hat. Have students research the weather patterns of the region of origin of their hat. Ask older students to create a chart showing average temperature and average precipitation of the country. Each student should do a short presentation explaining when their hat would be used in the region in China and a short overview of the weather patterns of the country (Geography, Science, and Mathematics).


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