Chinese New Year might look a little different this year, but there are still plenty of ways to mark the event.
The children have been working towards their Chinese New Year Pawprint Badge so we have been busy this week learning about it. We used some of the activity suggestions in the Pawprint activity pack and I added some other bits and pieces in too.
Getting Started
We started by reading the story of the Great Race. We have this version, and it’s been read for the last few years and is still much loved. We talked about the different animals and we recalled which animal years we were all born into.
We then watched a few YouTube videos of the celebrations as well as watching some retellings of the Great Race story.
Lapbook & Printable Activities
We then put together a lapbook. I bought this one and used bits and pieces from it and used some bits from this Twinkl lapbook. The children enjoyed putting this together and learning about the different traditions as well as looking at what years they and other family members were born in.
We also used these pages from Twinkl; A year of the Ox poster to learn a little more about the year and this poster of the 12 different animals and associated years. For the front cover, we used this from Mrs Mactvity.
I also used some other Chinese New Year themed printables for maths and English work which I have linked below. These made a change from the usual activity style packs that we do most days and the older two really enjoy the maths mysteries so the themed one was perfect.
Zoom With Friends
We had a zoom session with friends. This would have been much more fun in person as we would have been able to have a Chinese banquet (of sorts!) as well as do a more detailed or in-depth craft activity. The zoom, however, was a nice way to come together and mark the date. I talked about the story of the Great Race and we looked at some of the attributes associated with our own years.
We discussed some of the symbols associated with Chinese New Year and superstitions around good and bad luck. Another friend then talked is through a lantern craft and we opened fortune cookies and read our fortunes.
Finally, before finishing we did a quick quiz using the TwinklGo pre-written quiz.
Other Crafts
We also did some other small crafts including making red envelopes, waving cats (although I know these aren’t strictly Chinese) and dancing Dragons. We enjoyed watching some celebrations on YouTube too and looking back on pictures from last year when we saw a dance in Preston and to previous years when we had been into the city to see the celebrations.
We also made chocolate orange shortbread which is a very tenuous link to Chinese New Year but was delicious! We finished off our celebrations by enjoying a meal on the eve of the new year.
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Lovely range of activities. I don’t have a problem with chocolate orange shortbread! As long as they are snacks, whether sweet or savory, they are served when visitors arrive. After a day of visiting friends and family, you can imagine the indulgence! If you ever want more Chinese New Year activities, head over to my website justinelaismith.wordpress.com/school-resources. Have a Ox-picious New Year!