The exciting festival of Chinese New Year will soon be upon us on 8th February. This year marks the start of the Year of the Monkey which is the 9th of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac.
Chinese New Year is an excellent opportunity for children to develop an awareness of other cultures and form a sense of the world around them.
Here at Springboard Supplies, we have complied a list of our top 10 craft ideas for Chinese New Year which are ideal for a wide range of ages and abilities:
10. CNY Snake Craft
This simple snake craft from Craftiments is a fantastic project for early years resulting in a colourful take home gift.
Simply form the mouth using an toilet roll tube and use a folding/overlapping technique to create the body with coloured paper. This is a great activity for developing fine motor skills and dexterity.
Additional decoration can be added with glitter glue and wiggly eyes.
9. Dragon Art
Found on Learning and Exploring Through Play, this activity is suitable for toddlers and looks at mixing paints to create a fantastic dragon painting which can be displayed at home or given as a gift for Chinese New Year.
The simplicity of this activity makes is perfect for younger children and can be created with just paper and paint! The artwork can then be embellished with glitter or wiggly eyes to add detail. Finally hang with some metallic ribbon and it's complete!
8. Tactile Dragons
If you're looking for something which is pre-cut and ready to go, our Tactile Dragons may be the prefect activity.
This pack contains everything you need to create colourful dragon stick puppets with tactile fabrics to add texture and decoration. Along with developing fine motor skills, this project introduces children to the concepts of knotting, threading and overlapping fabrics.
7. Drum Craft
Combining art and crafts with music, this activity from Gift of Curiosity results in a colourful version traditional Chinese instrument called the Bolang Gu.
Constructed using paper plates, this activity can be achieved using resources which are commonly found at home.
This project is ideal for all ages and abilities and provides scope for lots of decoration and embellishment.
6. Chinese New Year Lanterns
This CNY Lantern pack contains everything you need to create traditional red lanterns perfect for celebrating Chinese New Year with no preparation time required - ideal for teachers looking for a ready-to-go class activity!
The pack includes gold and yellow pre-cut collage shapes for additional decoration once the lantern has been constructed.
5. Fingerprint Chinese Lucky Tree
So simple, yet effective! This idea has come from Fun Hand Print Art Blog and results in a great display piece perfect for your home or classroom!
Simply paint the tree trunk and branches on a large piece of paper then add leaves using fingerprints in red and yellow paint!
4. Dragon Spirals
Create a stunning Chinese New Year display with this pack of Dragon Spirals.
The spirals and dragon heads/tails come pre-cut in a variety of colours. Simply colour in the illustrations and attach to a spiral to form a hanging display piece.
3. Firecracker Craft
Traditionally at Chinese New Year, very loud firecrackers would be set off to scare away the man-eating monster Nian and mark the start of a new calendar year.
This craft idea from Activity Village results is simple and can be created quickly during snapshot craft sessions. All you need is a toilet roll tube and some red and gold paint.
2. Chinese New Year Fan
This is a great folding activity provided by ET Speaks from Home creating a colourful and practical take-home gift!
Follow the simple instructions which require some basic craft materials such as red card, string, paint, glue and glitter to create a fan ideal for learning about the Chinese culture.
1. Concertina Dragons
This pack of Concertina Dragons contains all you need to create these vibrant and animated hand puppets. It also provides opportunity for developing simple construction skills along with encouraging decorating and design ideas.
The result is a beautiful take-home gift to celebrate the festival!
Take a look at our range of Chinese New Year Craft Activities available with next day delivery and no minimum order quantity.
Don't forget to connect with us on Twitter @sboardsupplies - we love to see your crafty creations!
