"Children learn best through play. (Keep it light!) When you do want to be a little more teacherly, do it in very small doses."
Raising a Bilingual Child
Barbara Zureer Pearsono, Ph.D.

3littlepandas.com is organized into simple groups of vocabulary and phrases all within an easy to navigate web site. Our goal is to keep everything simple, playful and organized with everything you need to introduce your child to the wonderful world of a second language.

The idea behind 3littlepandas is to create a Parent-Child learning environment. The parent and the child will be learning together even though they learn differently. For the parent we have word strips, vocabulary guides, pronunciation guides and helps. For the child we have videos, activities, music and crafts.

There are many ways to use this site. You can use this site by viewing and listening to the vocabulary and phrases together, interacting through song, coloring pages and activities. Each family will do this differently. You will develop your own process on how to use 3littlepandas.com, but let us give you a few suggestions.

• First and foremost, remember this is your child and you know her best. When she's ready to learn, when she's ready to stop.
  
  
• Second, you know yourself best. When you're ready to teach and play and when you need to rest.
  
  
• Try to be consistent in daily teaching. If at all possible, try to be consistent in time of day teaching (early morning, late morning, early afternoon...). Children love consistency, they know what to expect and what is expected.
  
  
• Make it feel like playtime. As stated above, "Children learn best through play (Keep it light!) and when you do want to be more teacherly, do it in very small doses."
  
  
• At the beginning of each "lesson" or word(s) you'd like to focus on, visit the appropriate page in 3littlepandas.com and review the word(s) together. Say it out loud together, watch the short videos and say the word(s) over and over again until you're comfortable with them.
  
  
• Print out the word strips and use them as reminders or flash cards for yourself. You can tape them throughout the house which would help you see them throughout the day. For example: Tape the word "refrigerator" to the (you guessed it) refrigerator. Tape the word "red" to a red wall. You get the picture.
  
  
• Parent's have suggested to make a "vocabulary" binder. A binder you can keep word strip pages in to have handy when playing together.
  
  
• Another great parent suggestion is to keep a "Chinese" box (file box or plastic tub) you can use to keep teaching supplies in, such as crayons, scissors, tape, paper, the "vocabulary" binder, etc. This way, when you take out the box, the child instantly knows it's "Chinese" time.
  
  
• Familiarize yourself with the sounds of Mandarin. Not only listen to the vocabulary you are teaching that day, but go to the "pronunciation help" section and familiarize yourself with the the various sounds.
  
  
• Have fun! 3littlepandas isn't only about teaching a second language but is about building relationships. Relationships between a child and the language and the people and the culture. It's about building a relationship between a parent and a child.