Children learn best through play. What better way to teach them about celebrations and cultures from around the world than to set up some play activities and crafts.
This year on 1st February it is Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year. Chinese New Year is a huge celebration which signals the beginning of spring and will last for 16 days. 2022 is the year of the tiger, which in China is known as the king of all beasts. This zodiac sign is a symbol of strength, exorcising evils and braveness.
We have created a collection of activity ideas inspired by Chinese New Year that you can do at home with your little ones.
If your little ones love sensory play, then coloured rice will be a huge hit. Keeping the theme of the year of the tiger, I dyed a batch of rice orange and black. Add some scoops and tubs to pour the rice into. This is great for little ones who love to transfer and works on both fine motor and visual motor skills.
To extend this play for longer why not add some animals to represent each of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs.
We have some mini scoops in stock here and the treasure tubes pictured available both individually here or as a set here.
The Chinese New Year ends with a beautiful display of lanterns at the Lantern Festival.
Children of all ages can have a go at making a lantern. We made 2 different styles, finding a trickier design for my 9 year old to try out. You simply need some paper/card, scissors and glue for this craft. Make them as simple or decorative as your child wants to.
Red and gold are traditional colours displayed during Chinese New Year celebrations. Red is used to symbolise fire, good fortune and joy. This colour of happiness is strictly used for celebrations. Gold symbolises wealth and prosperity. They are both used together to spread good fortune and prosperity for everyone in the coming year.
To help teach my children about this, I set up this red and gold themed tray. The base is rice that I dyed red with gold dyed chickpeas and Chinese Fortune coins. I added then Lanka Kade Panda too, some chopsticks and tweezers for my younger children who struggled with the chopsticks.
This is a great opportunity for working on those fine motor skills and learn how to use something new. Each of my children loved trying to use the chopsticks.
We have some tweezers in stock here and a range of wooden panda toys here.
This tiger mask was created by Emma. Simply print it out from our free resources and then cut out and either attach some ribbon or a lolly stick to use the mask. We also have a selection of printable pages for colouring, tracing or using with playdough.
For some free resources check out our newest section on the website
The Future Image - Free Resources
We would love to see if you have a go at any of our activity ideas. Please use #TFIplaydays when sharing on social media so we can share your play.