Get creative with our Chinese New Year crafts – perfect for kids (and adults) of all ages – to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Celebrating Chinese New Year with children helps to teach them about different cultures around the world. Which is important to help them celebrate diversity, respect difference and develop strong bonds in the future.
Try these Chinese New Year crafts at home.
What is Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year is also known as the ‘Lunar New Year’ or ‘Spring Festival’. It starts on the first day of the new moon and lasts for 2 weeks, ending in the Lantern Festival.
Because the Chinese calendar follows the moon cycle and the earth’s orbit around the sun, the Lunar New Year is celebrated on a different day every year. But it always falls around late January or early February.
It’s all about removing the old and preparing yourself for the new potential for the year ahead. Every year in the Chinese calendar is represented by a different animal of the Chinese zodiac. There are 12 animals in total and each one holds a different meaning.
2025 is the Year of the Snake which represents wisdom, intuition, growth and transformation. The Year of the Snake can also mean different things for people born in different years. You can find out what animal represents you by looking up your birth year in the Chinese zodiac.
How can I celebrate Chinese New Year?
There are lots of different ways to celebrate Chinese New Year.
First and foremost, the Chinese New Year is a really important time for family. It’s a time of year when people reunite with their loved ones, usually sharing a big meal on New Year’s Eve. This will include traditional foods and a chance to catch up.
Before New Year’s Day, it’s also traditional to clean the house, declutter and let off fireworks.
On New Year’s Day, many people will continue to visit their family and friends but they may also watch a Dragon Dance or a Lion Dance. The dragon is a powerful animal in Chinese culture and it was said that if people saw a dragon or one of the other four lucky animals, they would have a good year.
Red is also an important colour in the Chinese New Year. Wearing red clothes and decorating your house with red is said to bring you good luck. In some cultures, red envelopes with money are also given out as gifts.
Try these Chinese New Year crafts
Celebrate Chinese New Year with these simple paper crafts. If you have a Not Bored Box subscription, you’ll find lots of colourful paper to help you with these crafts. Or use what you can find around your home.
Colourful paper cuttings
Make decorative paper cuttings to showcase on your walls, windows and the doors of your home to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
You will need:
- Square paper, red (or any colour you have)
- A pencil for marking lines
- Scissors
How to make a paper cutting:
- Fold your piece of paper in half
- Fold it in half again
- If you want a circle shape for your final cutting, you can cut a rounded edge at one end of your paper
- Draw some shapes or simple patterns on the paper. Make sure you don’t draw any lines that connect one side of the paper to the other otherwise, when you come to cut your lines, you may cut bits of the paper off.
- Take your scissors and cut out your shapes
- Then, unfold your paper and take a look at your paper cutting
- Stick your paper cuttings around your house and don’t forget to take photos to share with @notboredbox on Instagram
‘Fú’ symbols for good luck
Hanging an upside down ‘Fú’ symbol in your home is traditional at New Year. The word ‘Fú’ means ‘luck’ and upside down also looks like the Chinese character for ‘to arrive’. So it’s normal to hang a ‘Fú’ symbol upside down to bring good luck.
Try it for yourself. You and your children can decorate your paper cuttings by painting, writing or drawing the ‘Fú’ symbol in the centre. You could also make a ‘Fú’ character on paper or card with beads, leaves, sand, biodegradable glitter or shells.
Let your kids’ imagination go wild! Search for the ‘Fú’ symbol online.
Hanging Chinese lanterns
Lanterns are just as important at Chinese New Year as Christmas trees in December. The end of the celebrations are marked with the Lantern Festival, where people release candlelit lanterns up into the sky as a symbol of letting go.
You can make your own hanging lanterns to decorate your home from paper.
You will need:
- Red (or any colour) A4 or rectangular paper
- Scissors
- Glue or tape
- Extra paper or string
Make your paper hanging lantern
- Fold your paper in half along the short edge. You should be left with a thin and tall sheet of paper.
- Make even, horizontal cuttings along the folded long edge, leaving around a 5cm gap at the unfolded edge
- Unfold your paper
- Start with the long edge of your paper on the left-hand side. Take both corners and join them together with glue or tape. Now do the same on the other side. The main structure of your lantern is complete.
- For the handle, cut a length of paper or string and attach both ends to one of the open sides of the lantern
- Now you’re ready to hang your lantern
Happy crafting! And don’t forget, take lots of pictures and share them with us via @notboredbox on Instagram. We can’t wait to see what you create.