Next Sunday is a holiday of wonder and celebration. No, not Valentine’s Day! It’s the first day of the Chinese New Year. (2010: Year of the Tiger!) Perhaps the most important holiday in Chinese culture, the New Year is an opportunity to celebrate, exchange gifts, and reconnect with family and friends.

The makers of Ni Hao, Kai-Lan have made a charming Nintendo DS game, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year’s Celebration that will introduce fans of the show to some of the traditions associated with the Chinese New Year. The game is organized around the activities of a single day: waking up friends, going shopping for New Year’s clothes, cooking special food, playing music, making lanterns and a dragon mask, eating, being in a parade, and watching fireworks.

As in the tv show, Kai-Lan exhorts the player to join in the preparations for the holiday. Each of these activities is cleverly turned into a matching game, whether of shapes or colors or pictures. For example, here’s a screenshot (from the game’s website) of one of the cooking activities:

Most of Kai-Lan’s friends are along for the celebration. There is a moment of anxiety, when they’re concerned that they are too young to participate in the parade, but–at the risk of giving away a spoiler–everything works out. At the end of the game, players should be familiar with many of the different activities associated with the New Year.

The game uses most of the DS’s controls: at various points you tap and draw on the screen, and talk and blow into the microphone.

It is worth noting that game is pitched at *quite* young children: Preschoolers are the sweet spot. 5-year-olds might enjoy the game a few times, especially if they watch the show, but it’s definitely too simple for 6-year-olds.

Wired: Familiar characters and voices from the popular show; well-conceived story; dead-simple gameplay for young children or novice gameplayers.

Tired: Surprisingly little actual information about the traditions, or even related language, is conveyed in the game. (The Amazon listing for the game claims you can learn Mandarin from it, which would take a miracle.)

Other Ni Hao, Kai-Lan posts at GeekDad, all by Jonathan Liu:

• “Learning Chinese with Ni Hao, Kai-Lan“
• “Ni Hao, Jade-Lianna: GeekDad Interviews the Voice of Kai-Lan“
• “Have a Super Game Day with Kai-Lan for the Wii“