Are you hoping to teach your children about Chinese New Year this February? Have you already decided on a list of themed activities and games yet? If not, you may want to skim through my list of suggestions. Each one was a big hit with my kids. Therefore, yours may enjoy them too. Here they are:
Holiday Songs and Rhymes
I have found that one great way to celebrate Chinese New Year with the kids is to let them sing songs and recite rhymes. For example, the British Council website has a printout that features the lyrics to the song “Happy New Year.” It is a bilingual song that mentions some of the tasks involved in preparing for the holiday. You could hand out whisk brooms along with the lyrics. Afterward, you could get the kids to sing the song and act out the sections that talk about sweeping.
Musical Activity with Parade
You may also want to consider letting the children make Chinese musical instruments and holding a parade. Instruments to consider making are a bolang gu, finger cymbals and drums. If you do decide to go that route, the Artists Helping Children website has instructions for making assorted musical instruments out of household items and craft supplies that you may find helpful. You may also want to consider purchasing a few Red Ribbon Wands through Oriental Trading or making your own with wooden dowels and satin ribbons. The kids could utilize them during the parade as well.
Arts and Crafts
When it comes to arts and crafts, I’d suggest that you consider letting the children practice calligraphy. The Teacher Vision website contains lesson plan materials that would be helpful in that regard. The materials provide background information about calligraphy as well as Chinese numbers and words that the kids could try and recreate. As far as the calligraphy pens go, you can typically purchase them through office supply stores for a reasonable fee.
If the kids in your life are too young for calligraphy, you could always have them create dragon puppets out of paper plates or snake puppets out of plastic cups. The DLTK website has instructions for making a dragon puppet out of a paper plate whereas the Free Kids Crafts website has instructions for making a dragon puppet out of plastic cups. You could feasible modify the plastic cup puppet on the Free Kids Crafts website by just drawing a snake’s head onto it instead of a dragon’s head.
Zodiac Charades
Lastly, you may want to think about challenging the children to a game of zodiac charades. To play the game, assign each child an animal from the Chinese zodiac. Then ask the children to stand up, one by one, and act out their designated animal without speaking. The children that guess the most animals correctly could be deemed the winners. The winners could then be given faux, gold Chinese New Year’s coins that they could cash in later for prizes. You can typically purchase faux coins and low cost prizes through discount stores and party supply shops.
Source: Personal Experience
More from this contributor:
Create Pop-Up Puppets for Kindergarteners
Best 5 Groundhog Day Books for Preschoolers
Chinese New Year Themed Party Favors for Adults
Make a March Lion Sculpture with Pine Cones for Spring
