Chinese New Year celebrates the beginning of a new year according to the lunar calendar. This year is the year of the Dragon. The Dragon signifies good fortune for yourself and your family. So many blessings to you all. My nephew happens to be a dragon in the chinese zodiac so I expect he'll have a wonderful year times two. Lucky little guy. For the rest of us we'll just have to learn to be content with plain old good fortune.
At my daughter's school she was served sweet, sticky rice, orange slices, popcorn, a fortune cookie and an almond cookie. To my understanding these are common things given during this time all symbolising good fortune. They also had a parade where they carried their dragon in one hand and their dragon mask in the other. The younger siblings where allowed to follow behind with tamborines. We made our rounds through the school wishing everyone a happy new year.
Why am I telling you all this? Because there is more to life than crafting. You can explore the world with your children in other ways as well. For ethnic holidays serve traditional foods. Read them books related to the subject matter from the library. If people have a parade get some of your friends and their kids together and have one yourself. Get into it. Really get to know other cultures and you will find that not only are you spending quality time with your child but you're teaching them tolerance not to mention introducing new foods, teaching them geography, maybe language (if you choose to learn a few native words), etc.
A craft my girls and I did do at home were paper bag dragons. They're simple and you most likely have all the materials at home. You'll need the following:
A paper grocery bag
Paint
Paintbrushes
Scissors
Tissue paper/Streamers
Glue
Take the paper bag (get a plain one if you can) and cut the front of the bag in half. Then cut the sides on a diagonal. Next you'll make eye holes for your little one. After it's all set up go ahead and let them decorate it. We used paint but markers or stickers work just as well. Once they're done cut up the tissue paper length wise and glue them to the back as streamers.
Okay, so our dragon looks a bit on the lack luster side. Nonetheless the girls had a blast running around the house growling at everyone.
Besides what the school did and this craft we did get to do one more activity. Although we were set to make frames at our local library today we ended up making kites. Apparently the Chinese were the first to make them and they were originally used during wars. There's a little something for you. This craft was also super easy and fun. You'll need a plastic store bag, skewers (or some straight sticks), tape, string, and scissors.
Start by laying your plastic bag flat. Now cut across the bottom so that way it opens from either end. Next, you'll cut only one side completely from top to bottom so it can be laid open and flat. Place your sticks in the center just like any other kite. One horizontal and one vertical. Don't lay the horizontal one directly in the middle though. Lay it down a bit towards the top. Tape them in place. Take your string and tape one end to the top of your stick. Tape it again on the next point and so on. You want to reinforce the shape of a diamond by taping the string to each point of your stick/skewer. Cut off any excess. Now that you have the diamond shape take your scissors and cut around your diamond leaving only about an inch all the way around. Save the excess plastic. Fold over the sides and tape them down in the shape of a diamond. Cut the excess plastic into long strips them tie them together end to end. That will be your kites tail. Attach it to the bottom of your kite with the tape. My girls taped a photo to the front of their kites. You can do the same. The finished project should look something like this.
Hopefully you were able to follow all my directions and have a wonderful time making your own kites and dragons. And although the big Chinese New Year celebration has passed you can still enjoy these crafts. As my husband says "It's a new year, all year".
Happy New Year, and happy crafting!
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