If you’re looking for some Chinese New Year fun,
With lots of fun and activities, this blog is the perfect one!
Teach your kids a few new tricks,
Like making lanterns and using chopsticks!
🧨 This year’s Chinese New Year falls on the 25th of January, and it is the year of the rat! Here are some great activities and games for you to celebrate the day! 🧨
🥢 The Chopstick Game 🥢
For each player, you will need:
Pair of chopsticks
Two bowls
A handful of sweets / mini marshmallows
Method:
- Give each player a pair of chopsticks and 2 bowls. Then, fill each player’s bowls with a few handfuls of sweet. To make it a fair game, make sure everybody has the same amount of sweets!
2. Next, start the timer, and give the players 1 minute to transfer as many sweets from one bowl to the other using only their chopsticks!
3. Whoever transfers the most, wins!
🍊 Mandarin Stacking Challenge 🍊
For each player, you’ll need:
4 mandarins
Method:
The goal for this game is to stack as many mandarins on top of each other as fast as possible! The more people participating, the more it is!
🏮 Make Your Own Chinese Lanterns 🏮
You’ll need:
Red paper
Toilet roll
Black marker
Yarn, tassels
Glue
Scissors
Method:
1. Paint your toilet roll red and wait for it to dry.
2. Measure the red paper according to the toilet roll, make sure you have enough paper lengthways, add an extra 1 cm widthways and fold the paper in half.
3. Make incisions from the folded end and leave around 1cm of space from the edge.
4. Once you’ve made all the incisions, open it back up and wrap it around the toilet roll to make sure it fits.
5. Use glue or stapler to stick the red paper onto the toilet roll.
6. Finish off the lantern with gold details and a ribbon for a handle!
🥁 Make Your Own Rattle Drum 🥁
You’ll need:
2 paper bowls
Red paint
Wooden lollipop stick
Stapler / Glue
Red ribbon
Method:
1. Paint the bottom side of the paper bowls red and wait for it to dry.
2. Next, tie a knot with the red ribbon to secure the beads onto the ribbon. Make sure to do this twice so you have 2 ribbons with beads.
3. Glue down the ribbons on the inside of the bowl, placing one on each side of the bowl.
4. Stick the wooden lollipop stick on the bottom rim of the bowl.
5. Staple or glue the two plates together.
🉑 Learn Chinese Characters 🉑
Use the printable activity page above to learn numbers in Chinese! Another idea is to print out two sheets, cut out the numbers and learn the numbers by playing a fun memory game.
🈵️ Chinese Calligraphy 🈵️
One well-known activity during Chinese New Year is to draw some Chinese calligraphy! It is a tradition in China and Hong Kong to write phrases like “恭禧發財” (Happy Lunar New Year) or “新年快樂” (Happy New Year) on a sheet of red calligraphy rice paper and hang it on a wall. The worksheet in the gallery down below shows you how to write “Happy New Year” in Chinese. Since it’s the year of the rat, the Chinese word for a rat is also available! 🐀
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