Chinese New Year Craft

About this resource

A Chinese New Year craft for the Lunar New Year season, a lantern puzzle craft: one big red and gold paper lantern to color, cut and glue back together, plus a match-the-patterns cut-and-glue page, a round-or-long lantern sort, a short picture-supported page about Lunar New Year, a Lunar New Year picture-word page, counting, patterns and writing on three levels, in one print-and-go PDF for PreK to 2nd grade. It is a book-free unit, and every picture of a lantern is a flat, simple drawing: no animals, no year, no date.

The lantern has ribs, a gold circle in the middle, gold caps and a tassel, on a cream background with gold sparkles. It is cut into 9 equal squares in three columns and three rows, so every cut is a straight line and there are only a few cuts. Children color the black-and-white pieces (or use the ready-colored set when coloring is not the goal that day), cut them out and glue each piece on its faint twin. Every glue box is exactly the size of its piece, and the nine pieces make the whole picture. A picture step page shows every step with one short sentence, and a small finished model sits on the page so a child can check their work.

Then the lantern goes to work. On the match page children cut 5 lanterns, each in a different color from its twin, and glue each one under the red lantern with the same pattern (stripes, dots, diamonds, zigzag, rings). On the sort they cut 8 lanterns and glue each under round lanterns or long lanterns. A picture-supported page has four short, general sentences with a picture for each (families celebrate Lunar New Year, which is also called Chinese New Year; families get together; families share food; some people hang paper lanterns) and a place to write what your own family likes to do. It makes no claims about luck or fortune and leaves room for your students' own families to share their own ways. A Lunar New Year pictures page shows 4 simple pictures (a red envelope, paper lanterns, a family, food) to trace the word for and write it. A design page has two blank lanterns to color, and a finish-the-pattern page has 5 rows of lanterns to continue and color, plus a sixth row of blank lanterns to make your own pattern. A counting page has 5 rows of lanterns to count and write, and a box to draw 7 lanterns. Three writing pages are about a lantern: trace and draw, fill in the sentences with a word bank, or write freely. A last page asks, "Who do you see at Lunar New Year?", and children draw and write about it. Every student page has one short instruction with a picture and a "My name" line.

What'S Inside

• Start Here: how the craft works, a note on the Lunar New Year page, the pairs and the sort, the three levels and a five-day plan
• Meet the lantern: the finished picture with 6 labels (string, top, tassel, body, ribs, circle) and 4 word pictures
• A word bank page: 6 words (lantern, red, gold, family, home, tassel) to trace and write on handwriting lines
• A picture-supported page about Lunar New Year: 4 short sentences, each with a picture, and a "My family likes to" line
• A Lunar New Year pictures page: 4 pictures, each with a word to trace and a line to write it
• The lantern craft: a picture step page, 9 pieces to color and cut, the same 9 pieces ready-colored, and a glue page with the 9 twins
• Match the patterns: 5 printed pattern lanterns, 5 glue boxes and 5 lanterns to cut
• Round or long: 8 lanterns to cut and 8 glue boxes
• Design two lanterns, with 4 sentence starters
• Finish the pattern: 5 rows of lanterns, 2 blank lanterns to color in each row, and a sixth row of 6 blank lanterns to make your own
• Count the lanterns: 5 rows to count and write, and a box to draw 7 lanterns
• Writing on three levels (trace and draw, fill in, write freely) and a draw-and-write page, Who do you see at Lunar New Year?
• A "Who Did What This Week" class data page, with the answers
• A family letter to send home
• A credits page (font and art license)

22 pages in all, 17 of them for students.

Cutting Built For Small Hands

Every cutting page has big squares or cards lined up edge to edge: 2.1 inches for the picture pieces, about 1.5 by 2.8 inches for the lantern cards and 1.9 inches for the sort cards. 31 pieces to cut in all (9 black-and-white pieces, 9 ready-colored pieces, 5 lantern cards and 8 sort cards). You will need crayons, scissors and glue sticks. Card stock suits the craft pages.

Three Skill Levels

A small shape beside the name line marks the three writing pages: circle (trace and draw), square (fill in the sentences) and triangle (write freely). Easier: trace and draw, or a partner who holds the glue stick. Harder: writing freely and the draw-and-write page.

Who This Is For

Preschool, PreK, kindergarten and 1st to 2nd grade classrooms, self-contained special education classrooms, and paraprofessionals who want a Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year craft with matching, sorting, counting and writing attached, ready to print.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A printable PDF (print and cut). It is not Google Slides, Docs or PowerPoint, and it has no fillable fields. It is not a book companion and uses no book's characters or pictures. It does not show a year, a date or a zodiac animal, and it does not teach customs or beliefs: add what your own community does. It makes no claim about any student's age or rate of progress.