10 Brilliant Chinese New Year Crafts For Kids

Chinese New Year, also widely popular as the Spring Festival, is one of the most important festivals in the country. It is celebrated on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February, with great enthusiasm and beautiful crafts. Besides China, Chinese New Year is also prominent in Singapore, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mauritius, Thailand, Cambodia, and other nations.

Chinese consider red as the luckiest color. People decorate their doors and windows with red color paper-cuts signifying happiness and luck, give money in red paper envelopes as they believe it symbolizes good luck and wards off evil spirits, hang on red lanterns as decorations, and tie Chinese knot crafts for good luck and prosperous life.

Your kids might be amazed seeing the beautiful red Chinese New Year crafts. Why don’t you give them hands-on experience in making these crafts and acquaint them with Chinese culture? As always, Mom Junction is here to offer you a list of ten brilliant Chinese New Year crafts that your children would love to create. Scroll down to learn more:

Top 10 Chinese New Year Crafts For Kids:

1. Chinese Red Envelope Craft:

You Will Need:

• Red craft paper
• Glue
• Gold glitter pen or paint
• Pencil

How To:

• Place the red craft paper on the table with its red colored side facing the floor and mark the approximate center of the paper with a pencil.
• Now, fold all the four corners of the red paper inwards until the marked center, and glue the tops of the three corners on each other leaving one flap open.
• You have a red envelope enclosed on three sides and one flap open to put a letter inside it.
• Draw a Chinese letter, character, or design on the straight top side of the red envelope and color it by using a gold glitter pen.

[ Read: Card Making Ideas For Kids ]

2. Red Chinese Lantern Craft:

You Will Need:

• One inflated balloon
• Lots of red tissue paper sheets
• Glue
• Warm water
• Scissors
• Paint brush
• Red, yellow, and golden ribbons
• Card paper
• Gold glitter pen

How To:

• Cut a one-foot long and one-inch wide strip out of red tissue paper sheet. Cut 30 such pieces of soft red paper.
• Mix some glue and warm water and use the mixture to stick the red paper strips vertically on the balloon. Cover the entire inflated balloon with the red tissue strips.
• To have a sturdier balloon, cover it with one more layer of red paper strips.
• Paint a coat of glue and water solution and let the balloon dry overnight.
• Cut two long strips out of the card paper. Glue the ends of a strip on each other making a ring out of the card paper. Make one more such ring.
• Glue the yellow ribbon on the rings covering them completely.
• Paste the yellow rings at the top and bottom of the balloon.
• Stick four to five golden ribbons at the lower part of the ball such that they appear to be hanging from the center of the yellow ring.
• Attach a red string at the top of the red Chinese lantern to hang it from the ceiling.
• Decorate the red lamp by making some fantastic design on it by using a gold glitter pen.

3. Chinese Thumbprint Blossom Craft:

You Will Need:

• White drawing sheet
• Black and pink food colors
• Two bowls with some water

How To:

• Put black and pink food colors in two separate bowls and mix a little water with them.
• Guide your kid to dip her thumb in the black paint and make prints on the white paper sheet creating the branches of the tree. Draw many branches and their sub-branches by making thumbprints.
• Wash the thumb, dip it into the pink paint, and make pink fingerprints on the tips or ends of the branches creating pink flowers. Make several such thumbprints and pink flowers and your Chinese blossom craft is ready.

[ Read: Snake Crafts For Kids ]

4. Chinese Knot Craft:

You Will Need:

• A red tassel with red threads hanging
• A Chinese coin with arrangement for hooks at two opposites to tie the tassel
• One weaved red fabric square piece
• Red thread

How To:

• Place the Chinese coin in such a manner that its two hook arrangements are in the north-south directions.
• Tie the red tassel at the bottom of the circular metal coin by tying a knot.
• Tie the square shaped weaved piece of red fabric at the top of the coin with its ends in the north-south directions as you see in the image.
• Use a red thread and tie the knotted arrangement of the red fabric, coins, and tassel to it so that you can hang it as a show piece.

5. Chinese Jade Ruyi Mascot Craft:

You Will Need:

• Green clay
• Gold glitter pen

How To:

• Chinese Jade Ruyi mascot is famous for bringing luck, and it comprises two parts the head, similar to the shape of heart, cloud, or lingzhi, and a long handle, in S shape.
• Guide your child to shape the green clay and develop the cloud shaped head of the mascot and the long S-shaped handle of it as you see in the image.
• Create the end of the handle in a small cloud shape.
• Use gold glitter pen and decorate the mascot. Create beautiful gold colored designs on the head, long handle, and the end of the handle artistically.

6. Chinese Paper Fan Craft:

You Will Need:

• Red thick red card paper of A4 size
• Tape and glue
• Gold stickers or gold stars sticker
• Red stickers

How To:

• Stick the gold stickers, stars, and fun red stickers on the A4 size thick red card paper.
• Make several one-centimeter fold of the card paper along the length, such that the folds come one below the other.
• Hold the multiple folded red card paper at one end and open the folds at the other end, thus opening the Chinese paper fan.
• Secure the folded end of the Chinese fan by wrapping a sticky tape around the end. Hold the handle with your hand and wave the fan up and down.

[ Read: Paper Craft Ideas For Kids ]

7. Chinese Red Paper Bowl Craft:

You Will Need:

• A bowl
• Clingfilm or food wrap
• Strips of red paper
• Glue
• Red paint
• Black marker
• Gold glitter pen
• Scissors
• Acrylic varnish
• Oranges and gold coins

How To:

• Place the bowl upside down and use the Clingfilm to cover it up completely.
• Spread the glue on one side of the red strips and stick them on the Clingfilm that encloses curved outer surface of the bowl. Cover the entire bowl with the red strips and let it dry.
• Repeat the step and stick two more layers of red strips thus covering the pot with three layers of red paper to have a sturdy paper bowl.
• Once the paper dries completely, take it off the mold pot carefully. Peel the Clingfilm off the round container properly.
• Use scissors and trim the uneven edges appropriately.
• Paint the Chinese paper bowl with acrylic varnish securing it.
• Fill the red Chinese paper bowl with oranges and gold coins and place it in your living room.

8. Chinese Paper Kite Craft:

You Will Need:

• Red card paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue
• Black sketch pen
• Black, white, yellow, and blue food colors
• A paint brush
• One long thick string
• Tape

How To:

• Draw the shape of a fish on the red card paper by using a pencil and cut it out with the scissors. Cut small side fins from the remaining paper and glue them on the sides of the fish.
• Draw the eye, head, mouth, scales, and tail by using a black marker.
• Mark the tip of the mouth black.
• Use white and black food colors and paint brush and color the fish’s eye.
• Color broad scales of the fish with black color and paint brush.
• Paint the side fins by using yellow, blue, and other food colors.
• Stick a long thick string at the tail of the fish by using sticky adhesive tape and complete the Chinese Fish kite craft.

[ Read: Dragon Crafts For Kids ]

9. Chinese Bamboo Placemat Craft:

You Will Need:

• Lots of flat bamboo sticks
• A rectangular black cloth
• Long black fabric to frame
• Adhesive glue

How To:

• Spread glue on one side of the black cloth and one side of the long flat bamboo sticks.
• Arrange the sticks vertically parallel to one another on the rectangular cloth with the glue side at the bottom. The sticks should cover the entire top of the fabric.
• Turn over the cloth and repeat the same steps at the other end so that the flat bamboos make both the sides of the mat.
• Now, cut the long black fabric in four long pieces and paste them on the sides of the bamboo mat framing it.

10. Chinese Red Rooster Paper Cut Craft:

You Will Need:

• One sheet of red craft paper
• Pencil
• Scissors and a small knife

How To:

• Guide your kid to draw the image of a rooster on the red craft paper sheet by using a pencil. Draw the head, crown, eye, beak, body, feathers, two legs, and paws of the rooster.
• Cut the image out of the red sheet by using scissors and cut the minute details, such as the space between the feathers and between the paws, by using a small knife so that you get a perfect image of a red rooster.
• Glue the Chinese red rooster paper cut on your table or cupboard.

Did you teach any of the above brilliant Chinese New Year crafts for preschoolers? Which crafts did your kid like the most? Share your experiences and ideas with the fellow moms in the comment section below.

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