9 Fun Chinese New Year Activities for Kids

In the last few articles, we’ve talked about the consequences of intolerance, injustice, and lack of understanding toward those who are different from us. With each article, we came to the conclusion that there’s a growing need for diversity in education, inclusion, and empathy between people from different cultures. Teaching children about the Chinese New Year and celebrating it through fun Chinese New Year activities for kids goes a long way in achieving cultural respect. 

What can you do? Homeschooling parents and teachers can teach kids about the Chinese culture, their beliefs, customs, and traditions. The Chinese New Year is the perfect example of how their beliefs and traditions differ from Western culture. Breaching this difference is easy through fun activities and crafts, which will make children appreciate more ways of seeing the world. 

In this article, we’ll share some interesting facts about the Chinese New Year and link more in-depth teaching resources that can help you build an awesome lesson plan. Then, we’ll introduce you to the 10 fun Chinese New Year activities for kids. 

Teaching Kids About the Chinese New Year

Let’s start from the beginning. Before you entertain your children with the activities listed below, it would be beneficial if you spend some time learning about the Chinese culture and the significance of their New Year celebrations. Most kids would wonder “But, wasn’t New Year a month ago? Why are they celebrating the New Year in February?”

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, celebrates the beginning of the new year according to the traditional lunar calendar. This also coincides with the end of winter and the beginning of spring which is why the event is also called the Spring Festival. 

If some of the kids rightfully remark “but, spring starts in March,” then explain how the seasons, just like the New Year, fall on different days than they do in the Gregorian calendar (the one we use). In fact, talking about the differences between the East Asian lunisolar calendar and the Gregorian calendar is one of the main things educators need to explain, to make sure kids grasp the principle from which these differences arise. 

Another important thing to include in the lecture is the Chinese zodiac system that is also classified in accordance with the lunisolar calendar. There are twelve animals as part of the 12-year periodic sequence (cycle) in the calendar. Note that in the Gregorian calendar there are also twelve different zodiac signs, but they’re distributed monthly. This year, 2022, is the year of the Tiger. It might be a very interesting experience if children learn how to calculate their Chinese zodiac sign and read what that means.

Finally, the third aspect you need to include in your lecture when teaching kids about the Chinese New Year is the beliefs, traditions, and customs associated with this event. For example, the Chinese New Year lasts 15 days and on the last evening, there’s a Spring Lantern Festival that marks the end of the celebrations. This is when those who celebrate the Chinese New Year thoroughly clean their homes in order to clean away any bad fortune and to welcome good luck. 

To find out more specific information about the Chinese New Year visit our worksheet bundle with interesting facts and over 30 worksheets suited for both the classroom and a homeschooling environment. 

Chinese New Year Teaching Resources for Kids

As we said, there’s a lot of cool stuff to cover about the Chinese New Year, which is why we thought to share some of our favorite teaching resources that will help you create an entertaining and memorable lesson plan.

Fortunately, there are a lot of choices regarding children’s books on the topic of Chinese New Year. The books we’ve chosen come with colorful illustrations that are going to captivate young minds and bring out the curiosity in children. 

Children’s Books

• Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin
  My first Chinese New Year by Karen Katz
• Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn (teachers’ pick)
• Dragon Dance: A Chinese New Year LTF by Joan Holub
• The Dancing Dragon by Marcia K. Vaughan
• Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan’s Chinese New Year by Kate Waters

The worksheet bundles are a perfect addition to your lesson plan. You can also use them after reading a book as a powerful tool to consolidate the knowledge on this fascinating topic. 

Worksheets

• Chinese New Year Facts & Worksheets
• China Facts & Worksheets
• Dragon Facts & Worksheets
• Confucius Facts & Worksheets
• Ancient China Facts & Worksheets
• China Curriculum Pack

9 Fun Chinese New Year Activities for Kids

Finally, we got to the really fun part. We’ve selected 9 different Chinese New Year activities for kids that can be easily adapted to the child’s grade-level. 

Chinese Paper Lantern 

We mentioned that the Chinese New Year lasts 15 days, and on the last day there’s a Lantern Festival which is when children go out at night carrying paper lanterns and solve the riddles written on their lanterns. They also do the dragon dance, but let’s focus on the lanterns now. 

Making a lantern is fairly easy. All you and your child or students will need is a construction paper  – A4 (best if it’s red or yellow/gold), glue, scissors, stapler, ruler, pencil, and oil paints (or markers – anything that will help your child draw interesting patterns on the lantern).

To make it, start by cutting off a one-inch strip of the paper from the shorter side and set it aside. That strip is going to be the handle of the lantern later. Then, fold the paper in half, lengthwise. On the opposite side of the fold, draw a horizontal line (use the ruler) one inch from the long side – the line is going to guide you in making even-length one-inch strips. Start from the folded side and cut upwards all the way up to the horizontal line. Continue making one-inch strips by cutting the paper all the way to the horizontal line. You’ll end up with 10 or 11 strips. 

Unfold the paper and decorate the top and bottom edge. You can even write a riddle with some glittery pencil. When you and your child are done with the decorations, fold the paper to make a tube shape, which will transform it into a lantern. Make sure to overlap the edges at least ½-inch and staple the overlap. Glue the handle, and the lantern is ready! 

Paper Plate Dragon Puppet

We mentioned the dragon dance, which is very popular during the Chinese New Year. Your kids or students can learn how to do the dragon dance, but first, they need to create a dragon for themselves. 

One very simple paper dragon can be made using a paper plate, a zip-lock bag, paint (red and gold or yellow), a strip of red paper (A4 paper cut in half, lengthwise, and gluing the two sides of the paper together for better strength), two sticks (craft sticks or lollipop sticks, for holding the dragon), and two googly eyes. 

First, have fun painting the paper plate, on both sides. Let your child freely paint with red and gold, until there are no more white spots. When it dries, fold the paper in half and cut it a little over the center. Try to make the line look like the profile of the dragon. The larger piece of the cut will become the head of the dragon, while the smaller will be the tail. To make the head more realistic, you can cut small triangles on the side of the head. 

Add one googly eye on each side of the head and draw a mouth. Then, take the strip of red paper and make a zig-zag shape. Finally, create the dragon by gluing the head on one side of the paper and the tail on the other. On the bottom, glue the sticks so the child can hold and play with the dragon. 

Dragon Corner Bookmark

Another way to play with dragon shapes is to make creative DIY dragon-shaped corner bookmarks. They’re very fun and useful as they can hold the pages while your child reads one of the Chinese New Year books we recommended. 

For this craft, you’ll need construction paper in different contrasting colors, glue, scissors, and colored pencils.

Start by folding the one paper, lengthwise. Fold it width-wise and press to make a line in the center, then open it. Fold one side up at a 45-degree angle (the edge should align with the center). Repeat with the other side. Flip the paper and fold the top downward. Finally, fold the corners to make a heart shape. The heart is actually the head and neck of the dragon. To make it look like a dragon, use another paper and cut little triangles for the horns, the fire coming out of the mouth, and glue them on your dragon. Draw angry eyes and patterns all over the neck of the dragon. 

Red Envelopes With a Gift

The red envelopes are a frequent sight at events such as the Chinese New Year which are given with gifts inside, usually money. The red color represents good luck and the symbols on the envelope are supposed to ward off evil spirits. 

To make the red envelopes, you’ll need red and yellow construction paper, glue, scissors, yellow or gold marker (alternatively gold glittery pencil), and a regular pencil. 

First, cut the red paper into a 6×6 inches square. Then, fold the square almost at the half,  leaving 1/2 inch overhanging along one side. Add glue to the overhanging piece and fold it over to stick it together with the other side of the fold. Also, glue the bottom by adding glue to one end and folding it over to seal it. 

While the glue dries, make small strips of yellow paper and write some beautiful messages of love, good luck, and happiness for friends and family. 

Once the glue is dried, using the yellow marker or gold pencil write some Chinese good luck symbols on the front side of the envelope. Then, stick one of the messages inside the envelope and gift it to someone. You can add a treat inside, too. 

Chinese Zodiac Signs and Symbols Circle

Another thing you’ll most likely mention when teaching kids about the Chinese New Year is the zodiac signs and symbols, so it would be both fun and helpful if kids get a clear idea of how the signs are arranged and what’s their meaning. 

To do this activity, you’ll need a cardboard circle, construction paper, scissors, glue, ruler, black marker, and red and yellow paint. 

With the help of the ruler, find the center of the circle and with a black marker draw a line from the center of the circle to the outer end (the radius of the circle). Using this line as a guide, draw ten more lines, which should divide the circle into twelve equal triangles. Outline them with a black marker. 

Paint the inside of the triangles yellow and let them dry. Then, with the black marker, make three sections in each triangle – two big sections, and one very thin in the middle for the names of the animals. In the outermost section, you’ll draw the animals (how they look), and in the innermost section, you’ll draw the Chinese symbol of the zodiac sign. 

When the circle is dried and outlined, open a Chinese zodiac chart and start drawing the animals and the symbols one by one, while discussing their meaning and significance in the Chinese culture. 

Paper Blossoms for Chinese New Year

The final aspect that we didn’t address from the Chinese New Year traditions during the festival is welcoming the spring. Since the festival is also known as the Spring festival, it would be nice if kids could create flower blossoms by using paper. If you use real wooden twigs, these paper flower blossoms look really cool in a vase as a house decoration. Best of all, it’s a super easy craft that kids of all ages will enjoy. 

To make them, you’ll need pink craft tissue paper, scissors, twigs, and a hot glue gun.

Start by cutting the tissue paper into small squares. Make a lot of them and then squash them with your fingers to get an irregular shape. With the hot glue gun, glue the squashed tissue paper pieces on the twigs (on both sides of the twig to look richer). Be careful with the glue gun and don’t let your child touch it without your supervision. 

Chinese Writing: Drawing Symbols

The Chinese New Year festival is accompanied by many myths and traditional customs either for bringing good luck, warding off evil spirits, or letting go of the past, and diving into the new year fully invested. Living in harmony and peace is also very important in the Chinese culture. This is why a great Chinese New Year activity for kids would be to write a wish or a goal they want to achieve in the new year (or more than one). Fold the paper and put it in a red envelope on which they’ll draw a Chinese symbol that’s related to their goals. 

Older children could try to write a sentence or a couple of symbols representing a motivational quote or something similar. 

Make sure to practice writing Chinese symbols before writing on the envelope as some of them may be a bit complex. 

Chinese Zodiac Sign Drawing

For this activity, you can help the children calculate their own Chinese sign based on the year they were born, and then they can draw it using either some pictures for guidance or their imagination – how they imagine their dragon, cat, or monkey, on the basis of the Chinese meaning and significance of that zodiac sign. 

One example is the monkey. Chinese people believe that the Monkey represents people (or kids) who are very smart but mischievous. They love practical jokes and being around people. So, how would a child draw a monkey who has these traits? 

Chinese New Year Songs 

We finish this list with a very positive and cheerful activity, and that’s learning Chinese New Year songs and rhymes. Here are a couple of YouTube videos that you and your child or students can enjoy together: 

“Chinese New Year Song for Kids” by The Kiboomers

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Chinese New Year Kids’ Song-“What’s Your Zodiac Sign?” by Dream English Kids

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Learn How To Sing the Chinese New Year Song “gōng xǐ gong xǐ ”

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Before You Leave 

Did you like the crafts and activities we’ve prepared for this Chinese New Year? We made sure that they’re fun, easy-to-follow, and inexpensive to make. On top of that, we’ve tried to include a variety of elements regarding the Chinese culture. This is why you and your child or students can make lanterns, dragons, red envelopes, zodiac signs, and Chinese writing symbols. Depending on your child’s or students’ age, you can easily make the activities harder or easier. For example, drawing by copying a printed symbol, or writing a full sentence with Chinese symbols. 

You can find more information about the Chinese New Year, the traditions, and customs on our website and in our Chinese New Year Facts and Worksheet bundle, where we created two big collections of worksheets on this topic. If you want to learn more about China, why not browse our dedicated China Library?

We can also support you by providing high-quality interactive worksheets and lesson plans for all your future needs, free of charge, or on a premium membership plan for a small monthly fee. 

Finally, through our blog, we hope to guide you and answer many of the challenges you face as a teacher or a homeschooling parent.