5 Creative and Colorful Crafts For the Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is a colorful and vibrant affair, and the best way to celebrate is with some artistic creativity. Get ready to celebrate the Year of the Goat on February 19th with any of these fun and simple crafts for the classroom.

Chinese Paper Lantern

Grade Level: K-8

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: construction paper, scissors, tape, glue, ruler, pencil (optional decor: crepe paper, ribbon, glitter glue, sequins, stickers, etc.)

Chinese lanterns are perhaps the most recognizable symbols of the Chinese New Year, and are typically used to attract attention and decorate during festival periods. Use your students’ masterpieces to decorate your classroom in the weeks leading up the New Year.

Chinese Masks and Coloring Pages

Grade Level: K-3

Difficulty: Very easy.

Materials: scissors, string, crayons or markers

These printable masks are good for younger students to get into the Chinese New Year spirit. Wearing a mask is a cultural tradition during this holiday, and worn to honor the belief of gods, spirits of ancestors, and legendary beings like dragons and lions. Red and gold are considered to be lucky colors, and are therefore heavily incorporated into traditional masks.

Chinese New Year Drum

Grade Level: K-5

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: paper plates, paint, string, small bells, wooden dowel, tape

Replicating the traditional Chinese drum, the Bolang Gu, is a lot of fun for kids. The pellet drum is two-sided, and has two pellets on each side. It’s played by turning the stick so the pellets hit the base of the “drum.” Young students will enjoy designing their own Bolang Gu, and then playing their own songs.

Chinese Dragon Puppet

Grade Level: 5-8

Difficulty: Hard

Materials: styrofoam balls, wooden dowels, girl’s or women’s tights in red, acrylic paint, wiggle eyes, felt, white foam sheet, pompoms, yarn, scissors.

This project may take some time and effort from your older students to really shine, but once it’s complete, will be a very special piece of work. Students may want to work in pairs or groups to design different styles, and have a variety of amazing dragon puppets flying around the classroom.

Chinese Style Paper Fans

Grade Level: 3-6

Difficulty: Moderate

Materials: letter size paper, glue, scissors, craft popsicle sticks, colored pencils, markers, or crayons (optional decor: glue gun, beads, string.)

Creating a traditional and functioning chinese style fan is a lot of fun for students. Encourage them to be creative with their designs, and very particular and careful with their crafting, in a similar fashion to how great Chinese artists work.

By Samantha DiMauro, Education World Contributor