Celebrating Lunar New Year with Students

During the Chinese New Year, lion dancer troupes from martial art schools or Chinese associations visit houses and shops to perform the lion dance. This dance is thought to scare away evil spirits and bring good luck. They are often accompanied by drums, gongs and bells. The most common colors for the lion dance are red to represent bravery, green for friendship, and gold to represent liveliness. Use this resource from the Children’s Museum of Houston to construct a lion puppet to use in a lion dance in celebration of the new year.

From ABCMouse, these easy-to-print greeting cards and illustrations feature dragons, lanterns and a dancing lion. It’s a fun way for developing young students’ artistic vision and fine motor skills, and for sharing greetings with friends. For older students, check out this art lesson on sumi-e painting from SML member samwelli. 

A story of a little girl recovering from a winter illness who cares for an injured crane, this video book reading and teachers guide from Storyline Online features timely social and emotional learning themes that students will relate to, with beautiful watercolor illustrations by Julie Downing—all inspired by the true story of a crane that rescued a Chinese village.

Helpful for putting new year celebrations in context, check out this expansive booklist from KidLitTV. Beyond the traditional New Year’s on Dec. 31, here is a list of children’s books that look at other celebrations around the world. Learn how people celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year; Seollal, the Korean New Year; Lunar New Year; Diwali, India’s Festival of Lights, and more.

Having trouble making your own lucky envelopes? Or do you have a class of elementary kids in need of a craft for the Lunar New Year? Create adorable Chinese New Year money envelopes with the Chinese New Year Red Envelope Craft via Twinkl USA.