Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
This post, the second I have created about the Chinese New Year, provides a collection of links to arts and crafts, stories, etc., suitable for primary-aged children.
Unlike here in the UK – where New Year’s Day always falls on January 1st – China’s New Year’s Day is the first day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar! That means Chinese New Year is a different date each year. It could be at the end of January or in February depending on when the new moon arrives. This year the festival starts on Tuesday the 1st of February 2022 and the celebrations will be taking place between the 31st of January and the 6th of February.
- Activity Village has a huge range of arts, crafts, facts, and more. It is a great place to start.
- There are some lovely photos of a family preparing for the celebration on this site. Scroll right to the bottom for many more photographs. Including beautiful photographs of the red envelopes which is something that will be new to most children here.
- RedTedArt has some fun tigers to make as well as dragons and masks.
- Bug and Buggy have more than 50 crafts linked to the New Year in China. “With Chinese New Year quickly approaching, here’s all kinds of Chinese New Year crafts and activities! You’ll find tons of resources for the upcoming holiday including printables, book lists, games, art projects, dragon and lantern crafts and more!” The lanterns, dragon plate twirler, orange, red envelopes, Chinese writing, and songs and rhymes are all great activities for discussing the customs surrounding the festival.
The Cbeebies video below is lovey! Chinese New Year is told from the viewpoint of a little girl:
This next video is good for older children, it explains some of the history of Chinese New Year and features the original story, the relevance of fireworks and the colour red, along with the story of the zodiac.
This post’s links and videos provide activities and crafts that are suitable for primary school use.