September 29, 2018August 17, 2022 Angie Yeow

Free Printables: Chinese Character Illustrations (四五快读字：虫|把|鸟|鹅|闪|自己)

I started illustrating for my girl 3 years ago when I used 四五快读. It started out as a feeble attempt to help her derive more meaning from the character so that it can make a lasting impression for her to remember the word.

Along the way, she grew more confident and I was encouraged that this strategy I am doing is effective for her learning. This year, I started my instagram chinese learning videos on how I teach and illustrate for my girl with 四五快读 . I found that she enjoyed reading the word aloud and she now joins me in creating this series.

A few readers were also interested in the drawings that I created for her. Therefore, I am starting a series of my free illustration printables to help anyone who is using this series, or who might wish to learn these words in a visually meaningful manner.

It will not be in sequence as I am currently doing 四五快读 |第五册| 第四十七课。

I will however, backtrack and begin with 四五快读 | 第三册 |第二十一课。

The printables will not be in a sequence nor will it be a full list of characters in this book. Whatever I provide will be within the scope of my girl’s needs. Words that she knows, I may skip them. The other main reason for doing this at book 3 instead of book 1, is the wide availability of visual resources dedicated for those basic characters. As the words become more abstract, I find that this is where I may help bridge the gap for chinese learning with my illustrations.

Many have asked me if I have a book to refer for my illustrations. For the records, all the drawings are brainstormed and hand drawn by me. I did not copy from any resource as this will be an infringement of the artists’ works. The meanings and interpretation are strictly based on personal experience combined with general knowledge or research. This is by no means a professional way of teaching chinese. I do not profess to have any expertise in the teaching of this language either. This is just an ordinary parent learning how to teach my children in the best way she knows how to; through personal visual illustrations.

After some research, I observed that many 甲骨文 has such ancient origins that my kids cannot relate to and thereby have difficulty remembering the words. Many also contain inappropriate connotations that I am uncomfortable to share with children. Therefore, this series is an attempt to provide a more relatable context and meaning to match our current modern understanding.

I finally got down to scanning my works and adding the chinese texts for an accurate calligraphy font. I hope you will enjoy them! Do tag me if you use my materials and I would love to share your child’s coloured version!

I have labeled the documents according the the character and the lesson unit as classified in 四五快读 . Just click on the Red Chinese Fonts to download.

Printable 虫

Printable把

Printable鸟

Printable鹅

Printable闪

Printable自己

Basically, my illustrations are meant to act as a prompt for some creative personalisation for your child as well. I have deliberately done a light grey drawing instead of a black hard line so that it can encourage my child to trace the drawing (like the below word) if she likes or just add in her own colours and own additional creative elements. Your child can draw his or her own super child costume and facial features with cape or without from my template. Happy teaching and learning with art!

42834677_2102259370023406_1972323564430295040_n