A quick, cheeky “extra” Round Up for you – Chinese New Year Crafts for Kids! (Yes yes, I know I say I do them monthly… but sometimes you have to just change the dates around a little, so everyone can make something!!). It is a shorter get crafty than usual, but hopefully full of inspiration.

Chinese New Year is the most important festival in China – a literal translation is that it is the Spring Festival and the start of a new Zodiac year. Houses are cleaned out for a fresh start and entrances to the home decorated with red decorations that signify ”good fortune” or “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. As general guide, Chinese New Year crafts are all about the auspicious colour Red, the colour of wealth Gold and Dragons – plus the 12 animals of the Zodiac.  2012 is the year of the Dragon.. so let’s see what we have!

Egg Carton Dragon 

I featured this Dragon many moons ago, when I first started the round ups on Red Ted Art. I thought it was lovely then and think it is lovely now! So am sharing it with you again. Anything made from Egg Cartons is brilliant. Just a “to hand” house hold item. Add a little paint and look what you get. This one is from Activity Village. Love.

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Egg Carton Dragon Puppet

Or… step it up a notch and make a Puppet out of your egg carton dragon as per Family Fun! Simply gorgeous. Step by step guide and photos will help you along the way!

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Chinese Fan

Nothing quite like a simple Chinese Fan! I thought the “materials needed” section make this sound terribly complicated.. I am sure you can make equally pretty fans with less “things”…. e.g. use a gold pen instead of stamps or cut out gold paper. The ideas is from Craft Kaboose.

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Chinese Drum

Make your own drum to ward off the evil spirits – this one is made from an old CD (so you get a nice bit of noise) and beads. So easy and fun! From St Louise Public Library Parents (go the library!!).

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Cardboard Tube Dragon

Oh my. I am getting Cardboard Tube envy, as the self crowned Cardboard Tube Queen, I wish I had thought of this fabulous dragon puppet. I LOVE IT! Learning We Like came up with the idea. So cute!

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Goldfish Kite

Lightly Enchanted sure enchanted me, when they made these adorable Goldfish out of my favourite Cardboard Tubes! I think they look ADORABLE and I can just imagine these fluttering in the breeze. They are fabulous.

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Goldfish Origami

Start your children on their first origami animal with these adorable little cute goldfish. I always mean to try out more origami. These would look great as a mobile. And if you fancy some “fancy origami” paper and don’t have any, check out my free printables page with links to designs to print off at home! Crafty Crafted has a step by step guide!

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Dragon from Hands

And another craft that makes my mummy heart melt… look at this adorable dragon’s body is made up of the children’s handprints. How cute is that. Certainly a new one for the “hand craft drawer”. Baabaabeep and her wonderful children enchant us!

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Lanterns

I remember making these as a child for “Carnival Day” (February). They are really easy to make and fun. And look great if you make lots to hang up together. Show Me gives you step by step instructions. There is also a Cardboard Tube version of these in my Loo Roll ebook. Come check it out!

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Chinese Take Out Lantern

Ok.. not a “traditional” Chinese craft as such, but I just couldn’t resist  - don’t these lanterns made from “take out boxes” simply look fabulous? The idea is from Make Handmade. I love it!!

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Make Your Own Fortune Cookies

And from the AllRecipes website.. a recipe sharing fortune cookies with you. I have never made these before, but really do want to give them a go. Maybe there is time to make them for Red Ted’s nursery… mmmh. Yes, I think I will!

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Have a VERY HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR and do try out some crafts!