Chinese New Year 2010 Crafts for Kids: Dancing Dragon

Vivid dancing dragon costumes are common site during the Chinese New Year. Scale the idea down to toy size, and you have a fun and creative kids craft. This dragon craft only takes 20 minutes to complete and materials can often be found around the home or inexpensively purchased at a dollar store.

Chinese New Year Dancing Dragon Craft

Materials:

White Construction Paper
Colored Construction Paper
Scissors
Crayons or markers
Tape
Glue
Chopsticks or straws

1. Draw the dragon's head and tail on a piece of white paper. They should be four inches tall, where they are going to attach to the dragon's body.

Your child can either do a profile drawing or full face drawing. Encourage your kid to be creative with this craft by deciding if their dragon will have teeth, big nostrils or tendrils of hair.

2. Carefully cut the head and tail out. Color with crayons or markers. You can even decorate this kids' craft with glitter pens, sequin 'scales' or feathers. Set aside.

3. Use a brightly colored piece of construction paper to make the dragon's body. Red, green or yellow a good choices. Fold the piece of paper in half lengthwise.

4. Cut along the fold, creating two rectangles.

5. Using 1/4 to 1/2 inch folds, fold each rectangle into itself. The result should look like an accordion.

6. Tape the two rectangles together, creating a long body for your Chinese New Year dragon.

7. Glue or tape the dragon's head and tail onto the edges of the body. If you used glue, allow time to dry.

8. Glue or tape a straw or chopstick to the undecorated side of the dragon's head. Do the same to the tail.

Move the dragon back and forth and watch him dance.

Dragon Chinese New Year Lesson

You can also give your children a brief lesson, while they are completing their dragon craft. Explain the origin of the dragon dance and why it is important to Chinese New Year.

Dragons are important to Chinese culture because of the belief that they are descendants of the dragon. The dragon is well respected for its goodness, poise, fertility and supernatural powers. The dragon dance is a way to thank the dragon for all of this.

The dragon dance first started out as an agricultural tradition. The people danced, in hope that the dragon would fly and bring rain. The dance also symbolizes the bringing in of good fortune, during the new year.

Source:

http://www.123chinesenewyear.com/chinese-new-year-dragon-dance.html