Search
Explore our places, collections and stories
Explore our places, collections and stories
Learn how to say colours in Mandarin, explore the museum collections virtually and create your own Chinese object card.
Age:
Aimed at Primary 5-7 pupils learning Mandarin.
Languages:
The words of each colour are shown in English, Mandarin, and Pinyin.
Did you know?
Pinyin is an international guide for pronouncing Mandarin words.
With thanks to
Dalry Primary who helped us create this resource
Teachers/Parents/Carers - Find out more in our Teachers' notes.
Using the gifs or downloads below, find out where each object is in the museum. Can you remember how to say the colour in Mandarin for each one? You can try to find them online either by:
While you are exploring, look out for an object you'd like to create a card (download below), short film or even a gif about!
Using the Mandarin resource backpack in the museum. Image © Ruth Armstrong
The final object is chosen by you! It could be something you find on Google Streeview, by searching our collections, or even something from your house.
Remember to make a note of its colour and practice saying that colour in Mandarin.
Using the Mandarin resource in the museum. Image © Ruth Armstrong
This resource was originally intended to be used during a visit to the National Museum of Scotland. The instructions above allow you to use online, whilst pupils are learning at home.
You might find it useful to download the original teachers notes as they provide:
Practice saying these colours in Mandarin.
Colour |
Mandarin |
Pinyin |
English |
 |
黑色 | hēi sè | black |
 |
白色 | bái sè | white |
 |
红色 | hóng sè | red |
 |
蓝色 | lán sè | blue |
 |
粉色 | fěn sè | pink |
 |
棕色 | zōng sè | brown |
 |
绿色 | lǜ sè | green |
 |
银色 | yín sè | silver |
 |
黄色 | huáng | yellow |
 |
橘色 | jú sè | orange |
 |
紫色 | zĭ sè | purple |
 |
金色 | jīn sè | gold |
Once the museum reopens, classes can book to use our Mandarin activity backpacks to explore the objects in person. The backpacks contain sensory items relating to each of our seven objects featured in this resource.
Mandarin resource activity backpack. Image © Ruth Armstrong
After nearly five months of closure, we have started to welcome visitors back to our museums with a phased reopening.
