Looking for fun crafts and activities to spice up your lunar new year celebration with your preschoolers? Search no more! This list is exactly what you have been looking for.
Our list for today is filled with simple yet very entertaining Chinese new year activities that’ll surely keep your little ones engaged.
Great Chinese New Year Preschool Activities
When it comes to something most kids enjoy doing, songs and rhymes would probably be on top of the list. They’re such a classic way to motivate the little ones and keep them energized throughout the day. Singing songs and rhymes are also an excellent way to boost the kids’ language development and communication skills, on top of their musical talents.
Singing a few Chinese New Year Songs and Rhymes are perfect to celebrate the lunar new year or to start the day. You can also use some of them during your circle time. Watch the kids unlock new vocabulary and develop their oral articulation as you sing along and have fun!
Feel free to check out livingmontessorinow.com for a list of the coolest songs you can use. The children will surely love all the songs on the list. Don’t be surprised if you hear them humming the tune all day long!
Sensory play is an extremely fun and meaningful experience for young children. It encourages a lot of learning through curiosity, problem-solving, exploration, and creativity.
This lunar new year sensory bin is the perfect activity for the Chinese New Year. It presents kids with red and yellow objects that have various textures they can explore.
It’s not complicated to make, either. Simply start by making the red rice by combining rice, white vinegar, and food coloring in a Ziploc bag. Allow it to dry overnight. Once dry, put it in a large container, along with the other stuff you want to put in your sensory bin. For the cardboard tubes, you can wrap them with red and yellow washi tapes. Stick them to the sides of the sensory bin using duct tape. Finally, let the kids explore and have fun!
Materials Needed:
- Red Coloured Rice
- Yellow and Red Pom Poms
- Yellow and Red Bowls
- Tongs
- Chopsticks
- Red and Yellow Caps
- Cardboard Tubes
- Red and Yellow Washi Tape
- Funnels
- Measuring Spoons
- Red and Gold Party Necklaces
- Gold Coins
- Duct Tape
Discover more about this fun activity and a whole lot more at happytoddlerplaytime.com.
Here is another perfect Chinese New Year craft to work on with your little artists! This dragon craft is an excellent activity for young kids as it can help develop their concentration and fine motor skills. Plus, it’s also a great way to practice their color recognition and matching skills. Definitely, the best craft to keep them busy during your circle time.
To make your own, all you need to do is trace your child’s handprints on colored cardstock and then cut them out. Afterwards, cut out the same number of rectangles sized approximately 3.5 cm x 10 cm from cardstocks.
Connect the rectangle pieces using paper fasteners and stick the handprints over the same colored rectangles. Awesome color-matching practice, ain’t it?
Finally, add the dragon face. Have the kids color it beforehand. Attach two popsicle sticks using double-sided stickers to move the dragon and make it dance!
Materials Needed:
- Cardstock
- Crayons or Colored pens or Colored pencils
- Paper Fasteners
- Glue
- Popsicle Sticks
- Double Sided Sticker
- Scissors
- Dragon Head Template
For more information about this cool activity, go and check out craftsbyria.com.
Looking for more fun crafts to work on with your preschoolers? This activity will surely keep the kids occupied during their circle time.
You can use it as a Chinese New Year activity and is perfect for kids to practice their coloring skills. You’ll surely be in awe as you watch them develop their fine motor skills and showcase their creative side!
For starters, print and color your desired page from the Chinese Zodiac Coloring Lanterns Template. Then, fold the page in half lengthwise and cut along the dashed lines. Unfold and roll the paper to create the lantern shape. Then, tape or glue the edges.
Lastly, attach a strip of colored paper or a string to serve as a handle. That’s it! Simple and easy, right?
Materials Needed:
- Chinese Zodiac Coloring Lanterns Template
- Crayons or Other Coloring Materials
- Scissors
- Tape or Glue
- Colored Paper or String
Don’t miss out on this entertaining activity! Visit totschooling.net and learn more.
Who says Chinese New Year activities are all about crafts only? If you’re looking for a math activity that’s perfect for the lunar new year, then you definitely shouldn’t miss this one! Your preschoolers will definitely enjoy practicing counting, adding, and recognizing numbers through this activity.
First off, place some gold coins in each envelope and write the number of each coin on the back of the envelope. You can then have the children choose one envelope and count the coins in it on the counting mat. If you want to practice their adding skills, then you can have them pick two envelopes and then do the same on the counting mat.
You can also practice their number recognition skills by simply placing coins in all the numbers on the counting mat. Then, have them pick each coin, put them in the envelope, and identify the number under it.
Materials Needed:
- Gold Coins
- Red Envelopes
- Chinese New Year Math Mats
- Black Marker (optional)
You can find out more about this cool and meaningful activity at alittlepinchofperfect.com.
This fun activity is indeed an entertaining Chinese New Year activity you could make inside the classroom or even at home. You can use it to keep kids busy during circle time, or even as a morning activity to keep the kids energized throughout the day.
It needs very minimal preparation as well! All you need is to print the Zodiac Animal Matchups template and cut them out. You can also laminate each piece for better durability and reusability. Then, you can place the mats in a stack on a table at one end of your room and the cards in a line at the other end of the room. Set up complete!
Have the kids select one of the mats from the stack and place it on the table. Ask them to remember the mat they’ve selected, then look for the matching half on the other side of the room. They would then take it back to pair it with their selected mat. Pretty cool, right?
Materials Needed:
- Printable Zodiac Animal Matchups
- Scissors
- Laminate
What are you waiting for? Check preschoolactivitiesnook.com now and discover more about this fantastic activity!
This drum craft should definitely be on top of your Chinese New Year Activity list! It recreates a traditional Chinese instrument, so it definitely has a touch of their culture. Indeed a perfect way to introduce the young ones to foreign culture, whilst having fun and developing tons of skills! A circle time-worthy activity, right?
To make it, simply have the kids paint the back of the paper plates with red and gold. Let it dry. Afterwards, tape the wooden dowel or chopstick inside of one of the plates.
Next, take the string, cut out two short pieces, and tie a tiny bell into each piece. Then, tape each string to the sides of their plates. Finally, use a stapler to attach the second plate on top. That’s it!
Materials Needed:
- Two Paper Plates
- Red and Gold Paint
- Paintbrush
- Wooden Dowel or Chopstick
- Tape
- Red String
- Tiny Bells
- Scissors
- Stapler
Found this craft interesting? Then go ahead and check out giftofcuriosity.com to learn more!
Check out more: Paper Plate Crafts for Preschool
Want to make your math classes even more enjoyable? This is a cool Chinese New Year activity that you can use to help kids practice their counting and number recognition skills. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?
All you need to do is print your copy of the Chinese New Year I Spy sheets. Then, have your preschoolers place counters on the objects and count them out.
After counting, ask them to pick the right number from the magnetic numbers and use it to support writing it in the space provided. Repeat until they’ve counted out every object. Take note that depending on the age of the kids, you can modify this activity to ensure it suits them better.
Materials Needed:
- Chinese New Year I Spy Sheets
- Card
- Printer
- Counters
- Magnetic Numbers (optional)
Excited to try it with the kids? Go and visit rainydaymum.co.uk for more details about this awesome activity!
This craft is a must-do New Year activity with your little ones. Your young aspiring artists would surely be very excited to work on it! You can let the kids work on it during their circle time or during art classes. Watch your preschoolers showcase their creativity and develop various skills!
All you need to do is prepare a pre-cut toilet paper roll along with the dark construction paper and paint, and the rest is up to the kids! If your preschoolers are already practicing their cutting skills, you can also let them cut the toilet paper roll themselves.
You can even display their work in the classroom after. Indeed an activity to keep circle time fun, meaningful, and exciting!
Materials Needed:
- Dark Construction Paper
- Pre-Cut Toilet Paper Roll (to serve as fireworks stamps)
- Paint (white, yellow, red, gold, and silver glitter)
- Spare Toilet Paper Roll
- Scissors
If you found this craft amazing, then you should definitely discover more about it at danyabanya.com.
Last but definitely not least on our list, none other than the children’s classic favorite — books! Reading books has a lot of benefits, especially for young children.
It helps develop a lot of their basic language skills, such as their reading, comprehension, and vocabulary. It’s also very flexible and you can use it for almost any lesson, as long as you find a relevant and perfect book.
Your preschoolers will surely enjoy learning about Chinese culture and their various ways of celebrating the lunar new year. All of it while widening their vocabulary and improving their language development.
You can read the books during circle time, or use it for your English classes with an emphasis on comprehension and vocabulary words.
If this absolutely excites you, then go check out rainydaymum.co.uk for some amazing Chinese New Year book recommendations.
Conclusion
Kids absolutely love learning but it can be quite challenging to keep them motivated and focused. Luckily, the activities in today’s list might be just what you need to grab your young learners’ interests.
We hope you did find an activity or two that would suit your children’s needs. Good luck and have fun! Come back for more activity articles soon.
