More Crafts with the Grandkids

To learn about the Chinese New Year, do a craft with the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids! And what could be more fun than a Chinese paper dragon! That's what we did.

Really no instruction from me. It's so easy to get online and find instructions for Chinese paper dragon masks or instructions for the entire paper dragon that you so often see in the Chinese New Year parades. 

So get out your supplies that you might have around the house (especially for when your grandkids visit) or get yourself to the craft store. We got out crepe paper (for streamers), construction paper, crayons and markers, scissors and paper plates. We also printed up some masks for ideas on how to design our dragon mask.

Some of the supplies we used. You'll notice the Scotch tape. I'd rather use that when crafting with the grands. Less messy.

My grandson helped me with the cut paper mask, but he also was intrigued with the coloring page of a dragon mask that we found online.

We cut out strips of construction paper and folded them accordion-style. Then we taped them to the back of the paper plate. That's a detail we wanted to add to our mask. This is mainly where we used the transparent tape.

Dragon mask in action.

How about a parade?

I consider that I have two sets of grandkids. I have one set that are now teens and preteens. My youngest is six years old, so now I'm doing a lot of the activities I did when my first set of grandkids were toddlers. When they were little, we did the entire dragon and went to the park to parade around under the cover of our paper dragon. That's fun too. So if you can get a group together, I recommended that. My youngest comes after school, so we just did a mask. He had fun with that too.

Follow-up activities to extend this idea:

• Go to the library and check out books about the Chinese New Year. Be sure to take your kids with you.
• Go eat Chinese with your grandkids.
• Create more art such as Chinese paper lanterns.
• Make Chinese New Year drums and noise-makers (You can find instruction online. Another use for those paper plates.)
• Watch a youtube video about this Chinese custom.
• Have a Chinese food tasting party. This works especially well with younger children that you might not want to take to a restaurant. Just get egg rolls, fortune cookies, and other food items off the take-out menu and take them home for the kids to sample.

And that's it! 

As I always tell you, doing a craft with the young ones is always so rewarding. It's a great one-on-one time when you can really talk. And it's always important to share other cultures and traditions. Makes for a more well-rounded child.

And because the Chinese New Year is in February, it helps alleviate the winter blues! It's just something fun to do with your kids. 

Here are some youtube videos you and your grandchild might want to watch together:
​www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVPHdFX9iHY

​www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYCc9wOfkXk

​www.youtube.com/watch?v=et36Al1C2dc