Chinese New Year Crafts

Just in case you are looking for some crafts to do with your children this week in celebration of Chinese New Year I thought I would post four activities that I did with my students at school.

1. Bowl of little oranges

Trace around a glass onto different types of orange paper or fabric and cut out the circles. We used cardboard, crepe paper, felt, etc. Cut out a red bowl and paste them all down onto paper. You can decorate the bowl and draw green stems on your oranges to give more details.

Tangerines and oranges are given as gifts, during CNY as their Chinese names sound like "gold" and "wealth".

2. Blossom branch

We made this branch by dipping string in black paint and pulling it out of our folded paper. You can also do this activity by blowing ink through a straw. The blossoms are actually pieces of pink popcorn. We sprayed some cooked popcorn with a fine mist of pink food colouring. Edible and fun!

Pink blossomed trees such as cherry, peach or plum trees stand for courage and hope.

3. Fireworks

I drew some lines with white pencil onto black paper and the students used fine motor control to squeeze glue along the lines. Then they shook glitter onto the paper.

Fireworks are another traditional celebration that the Chinese people take part in for the purpose of welcoming the New Year.

4. Dumplings

Trace a circle onto a scrap of brown or white felt and cut it out. Use excess bits of felt to stuff the dumpling and glue it closed. A hot glue gun works best if you have one. Decorate a red paper box or plate and your dumplings are ready to serve with chopstick straws.

Dumplings are a savoury start to the New Year.