Chinese New Year

Of all the Chinese festivals, Chinese New Year is for kids of all ages the most loved and anticipated.
A common Chinese New Year’s greeting in Cantonese is “Gung hay fat choy,” which means “May you become prosperous.” On Chinese New Year, the themes of happiness, wealth, and longevity are celebrated. On Chinese New Year, families reunite, special foods are eatten, fireworks are lit, and children receive money in lucky red paper envelopes.
These crafts projects are for preschool, kindergarten and elementary school children.

DIY Sky Lantern

Wooden Dragon

Chinese Lantern

Chinese Lantern

Tangrams for Kids

Chinese Lantern

What you need:
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Crayons, markers
• Stapler or tape

What you do:
• Use the ruler and make a straight line about 3/4″ away from one of the 6.5″ long edges.
• Cut this strip off and set it aside to be the lantern handle.
• Fold the piece of paper in half, lengthwise, making sure you line up all the edges.
• Draw a line along the open, long edge, of the paper, about 3/4″ of an inch from the edge.
• Take your scissors and, starting at the folded edge, cut a strip from the folded edge up to the line you drew.
• Make the first strip about 3/4″ away from one of the short edges and continue to cut several strips along the piece of paper.
• Once all your strips are cut, you should unfold your piece of paper and refold it lenghthwise so the pencil mark will be hidden on the inside.
• Color or embellish the outside of the lantern.
• To assemble the lantern simply roll the paper into a tube shape as shown in the photo above and staple or tape the edges together.
• Using the strip you cut of the paper earlier, attach the handle by taping or stapling the ends of the strip of the paper just inside the top of the lantern.
• Your completed lanterns can be hung up or set on a table for decoration.

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DIY Sky Lantern

What you need:
• Tissue paper
• Glue
• A ½ inch artist’s paint brush
• Thin wire
• Birthday candles
• A bamboo or balsa wood hoop (or equally light alternative)
• Scissors
• An X-acto knife
• Wire cutters
• Plastic

What you do:
• Cover your work surface with plastic.
• Take four pieces of large tissue paper, 12×20″ each.
• Fold them in half, length-wise.
• Trace half of a bell pattern on the top sheet, from the bottom with an opening that is 1/8 the circumference of your hoop.
•  Cut out your shape.
• Unfold the tissue paper.
• Write  your messages.
• Pour some  glue into a container and thin it with water.
•  Lay the first sheet of tissue on your work surface message-down and with the paintbrush, spread your watered-down glue all the way along one edge.
• Lay a second sheet on top of the first, gluing them together along one side.
• Lay a newspaper over the glued half and fold the top sheet over.
• Spread glue along the new side, lay a third sheet atop the second.
•  Repeat the process with the fourth, then fold the forgotten half of the initial sheet over and glue it to the fourth sheet.
• Let everything dry for a few hours.( After a time, you may need to come back and glue the top of your bell to ensure that you have a completed balloon that is only open at the bottom.)
• Wrap one end of a wire around the ring, string it across, wrapping it around a cluster of birthday candles.
• Affix it to the other side of the ring, holding the candles in place in the middle.
• Take a second wire and do the same perpendicular to the first, also wrapping it around your candles, so that you end up with a wire cross in the center of the hoop with candles snug in the middle.
• Once you have your finished hoop and your dry balloon, glue them together.
• Let it dry.
• Carefully take your creation to your launch facility.( You may need to pre-inflate your balloon before lighting your candles, so use a blow dryer on low to blow hot air through the hoop, inflating the balloon.)
• Carefully light your candles, which will continue to fill the balloon with hot air, and lift your sky lantern high into the air for all to see.

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Felt Fortune Cookies

What you need:
• Red
• Pipe Cleaners
• Scissors
• Glue
• Fortune inserts

What you do:
• On felt, trace 4½-inch circles.
• Cut out the circles.
• Cut pipe cleaners slightly shorter than the width of the felt circle.
• Using glue, adhere the pipe cleaner to the felt.
• Wait 30 minutes.
• Fold the circle in half along the pipe cleaner.
• Bend the two ends of pipe cleaner towards each other, then insert finger to poof out the sides.
• Assemble the fortune cookies. Carefully peel back one flap of the felt cookie, and insert a paper fortune and a few candies. Fold the flap back over to close cookie around contents.

Making Cones

What you need:
• Paper
• Scissors
• Glue

What you do:
• Cut a circle out of a piece of paper
• Cut a triangle by making two cuts to the center of the circle.
• Fold the circle, overlapping the edges a little, and glue together.

Chinese Lantern

What you need:
• Chinese Paper Lanterns
• Paint: Black, Red, Orange and Green
• Paintbrush

What you do:
• Assemble paper lantern by inserting brace to hold shape.
• Put small amount of paint on paper palette.
• Use tip of finger to paint small circles on lantern, mix shades of paint to resemble flowers.
• Add black paint with very small brush to create stems.
• Let dry.