EARLY YEARS EXPERIENCE:CRAFT IDEAS FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR

Craft Ideas-Chinese New Year

Lantern

You will need:

Coloured card
Coloured paper
Glue
Paint or crayons for decoration

These lanterns can be made as big or as small as you like the one shown here will be 15cm high excluding the handle.

 Out of a piece of the card cut one piece measuring 15cm x 20cm and another 15cm x 2cm (the handle)

Then cut out a piece of paper of a contrasting colour measuring 20cm x 20 cm. 

You can draw or paint a pattern on the paper at this point if you would like, however it is probably best to do something simple, as an intricate pattern may be lost when the paper is cut and separated. 

With a craft knife cut 19 slats into the paper 1cm width apart, leaving a border of 3cm at both the top and the bottom, as shown on the right 

Glue the card, overlapping the ends by about 1cm into a tube of 15cm high. When this is held firm, glue one of the 3cm border ends of the paper around the tube, this will overlap slightly. Turn the tube upside down and glue the other end of the paper to the top of the tube, the paper will open at the slits to give a rounded shape.

Finally add the handle by gluing both ends inside the tube at one end.

Small lanterns can be used for Christmas decorations.

Concertina Chinese Dragon

You will need:

Red stiff paper
Small pieces of black, white, green card
Yellow crêpe paper

Cut out a piece of red card 20cm x 6cm and 2 pieces of yellow crêpe paper 20cm x 3cm and 2 pieces 6cm x 3cm.

Glue the long side of one of the large pieces of yellow crêpe along the long side of the red paper, overlapping by 1cm. Repeat with the other large piece of crêpe on the other side. This is so that when the dragon is held up it will be neat on both sides.

When the glue has dried, fold the joined paper every 1cm alternate ways to form a concertina as shown. Glue the two shorter pieces of crêpe along either side of one of the shorter sides of the card.

(At this point you could glue or tape one of the straws or sticks to one side of the paper, before gluing the second short fringe over the top to hide the top of the straw/stick.) 

Then cut the crêpe into a fringe all the way around the two sides.

On a piece of red card draw a dragon head shape as shown, based around a 3cm radius circle. Cut the shape out and use it as a template to cut out another.

Place the two heads with noses touching and decorate with ears, eyes, nostrils and a small yellow fringe around the bottom of the head. Add two even smaller fringes around each eye to look like eye lashes. Leave to dry.

Glue or tape one of the straws or canes to the short end of the dragon's body without the fringe. Glue the body then on the inside, to the back end of one of the heads. Then glue the other head shape on top to enclose the cane and completely join the body to the head. If you haven't already glued or taped the tail end straw into place do so now.