Chinese New Year Dragon Puppet

Description

Make a colorful dragon puppet with streamers to celebrate Chinese New Year. Great classroom activity. Free printable pattern provided. The first dragon head pattern provided was one drawn by a fellow teacher that I worked with...this was before you could just google a picture when you needed one. Below I have included one from getdrawings.com that I thought was also another great option.

Make this dragon puppet for Chinese New Year.

Materials for the Dragon Puppet

Free Printable Chinese Dragon Puppet. Print Dragon Here
Washable Markers (bright colors-red, green, yellow, blue and orange) We like Crayola for vibrant long lasting colors.
Lunch size Paper Bag. You can find these in white sometimes.
Elmer's Glue
Scissors
Colored Tissue Paper 1 inch wide strips

Steps

Print out dragon head.
Color with washable markers and cut out.
Glue to bottom of paper bag. Make sure to only glue to the very bottom of the bag or it will not open. Younger children may need guidance and to make sure they don't put too much glue.
Glue strips of tissue under head to form streamers. Make sure to only glue the very top of each strip so that the strips move as you "shake the dragon". Tissue only requires a dot or thin line of glue to stick well.

Here is where you glue the dragon head down on the paper bag.

Here is where you glue the tissue strips down.

Here is another similar Dragon Head Pattern Here Print Chinese Dragon

Educational Note

The Dragon parade is a special part of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese dragon is a most sacred animal and was the emblem of the Chinese emperors. Once each year, the dragon leads a parade to wish everyone peace, prosperity, and good luck. The dragon which might stretch a hundred feet long, is typically made of silk, paper, and bamboo.

Other Chinese New Year Activities

Here is another one of our Chinese New Year Activities. I would place a nickel in each child's envelope. Here is the how to for Making a Lisee Envelope

Chinese New Year Candies

When I taught in Hawaii, I would go to a local Chinese store that would sell hot items as well as the Chinese candied fruit and vegetables for the students to try. They are similar in texture to the dried fruits that kids often enjoy but some have very different flavors. Some of these are wintermelon, pineapple, carrots, lotus root, lotus seed, ginger, coconut, water chestnut, and red melon seeds. They represent hopes for a year of sweet life and good fortune.