We had so much fun with our previous Paper Plate Whirligigs that we thought we would combine one of our favourite Chinese New Year Craft for kids an design for you a printable Paper Plate Dragon Twirler for Preschoolers to make this Chinese New Year.
Chinese New Year 2021 falls on Friday 12th February 2021! And it is the Year of the Ox!
First published in Dec 2017
A wonderful Chinese New Year Printable for Preschoolers! We have adapted our Paper Dragon Puppet to fit our Paper Plate twirlers.. and if I say so myself, I think they look fabulous. I can just see a family of Paper Plate Dragons hanging from the ceiling in reds, greens and yellows!
You may also specifically like this simple printable Year of the Ox drawing prompt card:
Paper Plate Dragon Whirligig – Materials needed
One paper plate per Dragon Twirler
Red paint (or any colour you wish.. great colours for Chinese New Year are red, yellow, green and blues)
Your FREE Paper Dragon Printables
Scissor
Glue
String & stapler for hanging
Pens for colouring
Brushes for painting
How to make a Paper Plate Dragon Twirler step by step instructions
We have a quick Paper Plate Dragon Twirler video or follow the steps below!
Step by Step Dragon Twirler How To
Paint your paper plate a lovely Dragon Red. Of course your dragon can be any colour – green, yellow, or maybe a mixture of colours to represent the scales.
Whilst waiting for the paper plate to dry, you can start colouring your Paper Plate Dragon Twirler Printable – we have a 3D Dragon head, tail and some feet for you to print and colour.
Colour in whatever way you wish – use crayons, pens, watercolours! Whatever takes your fancy.
Cut out your details – do NOT cut the head or the tail in half. You need them to be joined. If you carefully FOLD your head and tail in half, you can cut the two halves in one go – saving a little time.
Once your paper plate is dry, get your scissors and cute a spiral into your Paper Plate to make the Dragon Whirligig. It should look a bit like a snail.
NOTE: the thicker your snail twirls the more compact your Dragon tree will be.. the thinner.. the more “elongated” it will be. It is a style preference!
Take a piece of string and tie a knot one end. Then staple it into place.
Next you glue your dragon’s paper tail to the top of your dragon– make the string stick between the two dragon tail halves.
Now “assemble” your head. You will need to glue the bottom of your dragon face together.
Then add a little glue to the top of the nose and glue that too.
Now glue the paper dragon’s head to the bottom of your whirligig…. you can add tissue paper for FIRE if you wish.
Finally add your legs.
ALTERATIONS: I think these paper plate Chinese New Year Dragons would look amazing with a set of spines – cut triangles and stick.. OR as mentioned above, have fun with colours when painting your paper plate to begin with!!!
Hope you like this Chinese New Year Printable as much as we do!!! Happy Chinese New Year!
For 2021 the Chinese Zodiac animal is the Rat – you may like these Cow Crafts – replace them with greys, blacks and reds and you have the perfect Year of the Ox Activities!
Hi, thanks for replying, when I click on the link, it takes me to another tab but nothing downloads or opens, it stays blank. Can you please email it to me?
This Paper Plate dragon craft looks so fun, and I can’t wait to make it with my kids! Since my kids like bouncing their slinky toy, I think they would like playing with the whirlgig dragon after making it. I am excited to have include it in my list of favorite Chinese New Year activities – here is the link: https://chalkacademy.com/fun-educational-chinese-new-year-activities-kids/
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Brenda says
Hi,
I was trying to download the print out, but it’s not letting me. Please help!
Red Ted Art says
You should be able to click on the link – which opens in another page as pdf. Print straight from the page or download..?
Brenda says
Hi, thanks for replying, when I click on the link, it takes me to another tab but nothing downloads or opens, it stays blank. Can you please email it to me?
Betty says
This Paper Plate dragon craft looks so fun, and I can’t wait to make it with my kids! Since my kids like bouncing their slinky toy, I think they would like playing with the whirlgig dragon after making it. I am excited to have include it in my list of favorite Chinese New Year activities – here is the link: https://chalkacademy.com/fun-educational-chinese-new-year-activities-kids/
Happy Lunar New Year!