Chinese New Year Crafts and Games for Kids

Chinese New Year 2013: The Year of the Snake

My daughter’s Middle School Chinese teacher is throwing a great Chinese New Year’s party for all her students — 60 of them plus siblings! She is planning crafts, games, cooking demonstrations, and potluck. In addition, her students will perform — in Chinese — both skits and songs. It’s ambitious! Luckily, a lot of parents are also helping out.

The parent volunteer committee met to go over the activities. Some are coming from this book:

Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes by Nina Simonds

1) Folding Origami Cranes and Fortune Tellers

I am volunteering for this station. We will fold fortune-tellers and cranes.

2) Chinese Lantern Paper Craft

We are using the Lantern craft in the Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes book which is more complicated than the fold-and-cut red lantern craft you might have seen for Chinese New Year.

She demonstrated it to us.

You need:

• Stiff cardboard for the base cut into a 4-inch circle.
• Tissue paper (20 x 30 inches). Cut into 2 pieces of 15 x 20 inches.
• Florist wire (soft, bendy wire)
• Glue stick
• String
• Chopstick
• Battery votive candle

Cut a large piece of tissue paper in half. Fold it back and forth, crisply, in 1/2-inch folds. Glue the edges of the tissue paper and adhere to the base of the lantern by gluing the first folded edge over the base so that it covers it.
Glue the sides of the tissue paper together.
Glue the top of the lantern around a circle of florist wire, roughly the same diameter as the base.
Attach string to the top. Insert one chopstick into the string as a stick to hold it aloft.
Put the battery votive candle at the bottom.
You can decorate the tissue paper lantern with markers if you like.

3) Chinese Calligraphy

Use Chinese brush and ink to write Chinese Characters. Here’s a video demonstration on how to write Happy New Year in Chinese Characters. We are asking parents who know Chinese to demonstrate. (Not me!).

4) Chopstick Marshmallow Challenge

This is a relay race in which two teams must transfer a bowl of mini marshmallows from one side of the room to another using only chopsticks. If the kids know how to use chopsticks, try substituting wrapped hard candy for an extra challenge.

This is the traditional Chinese good luck candy:

5) Chinese Character Game

6) Chinese Yo-Yo

It’s helpful to have an expert demonstrate how to use the Chinese Yo-Yo as it’s not easy. If you don’t have someone who knows how here is a video demonstration.

And here is Ryan Shi, a wizard of the Chinese Yo-Yo, from the Chinese Yo-Yo Show in Knoxville, in 2010. He makes it look easy but, in truth, the basic Chinese Yo-Yo moves are not so easy!

7) Chinese Shuttlecock

This craft is from the Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats book above. The Chinese Shuttlecock is a Chinese version of the hackysack. You will need:

• Tissue paper
• Rubber bands
• 2 quarters per Chinese Shuttlecock
• scissors
• ruler

Cut the tissue paper into half, approximately the size of 15 by 20 inches. Fold it down the middle length-wise. Make a row 1-inch line on either side of the tissue paper up towards the centerfold but leave 3 inches near the centerfold solid. Cut up the lines — it should look like fringe.

Put the 2 quarters in the center of the tissue paper, gather up all the fringe, and wrap the rubber band around it to form a “ball.”

Your Chinese Shuttlecock is done. Kick it in the air with any part of your body like a hackysack and see how many times you can hit it without letting it fall to the ground.

8) Prizes are Red Chinese Envelopes filled with candy

You can also put money in them which is traditional and is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity to recipients.

8) Rainbow Creations has a Chinese flower painting you make by blowing the paint and then adding the flowers.

9) Red Ted Art has an easy paper chain snake craft for kids.

I’ll update this post with photos from our Chinese New Year’s party but — breaking news — we are in for the snowstorm of the century — so our party is being postponed for a week. Wish us luck getting through 2 feet of snow coming down sideways!

Finally, here’s a cool paper craft snake that can turn and twist! PDFs of the pattern are here.

p.s. Here are a few more Chinese New Year posts.

Chinese New Year Red Envelope Crafts and Background

Chinese New Year Books for Kids

p.p.s. I’m thrilled to be included in this link-up hosted by The Educators’ Spin on It.

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