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February 7, 2008 - The Year of the Rat. For many people, the Chinese New Year festival is the longest and most important of the year. It is a time of celebration, eat special foods, cleaning and decorating the house, giving gifts, fireworks, and preparing for next year. The color red is believed to be lucky so people traditionally wear red clothes and give children "lucky" money in red envelopes. Family members gather in homes for others visits and shared meals. Festivities usually end with the Lantern Festival, highlighted by a dragon dance. With children, ring in the New Year with fun after Chinese New Year Activities

Chinese New Year Dragon
The dragon symbolizes strength, goodness and good luck. Help your child make a simple dragon. Use an egg carton with three cups and have children paint the cups with red and yellow. Draw a face shape of dragons and decorate with cotton balls and bulging eyes. Cut the yarn into small pieces and paste into the back of the dragon. Pom-poms glue on the bottom of the egg carton cups to make legs. Have children make their own dragon dances, as they parade around together.

Chinese Lantern Art
Paint a red paper plate and cut a circle in the center. Take clear contact paper and cut a circle to fit inside the paper plate and taped to the back. Tear red and yellow tissue paper into small pieces and place on the sticky side of contact paper. Cut two rectangles of red craft paper and glue to the bottom and top of the lantern. Make a tassel of yellow yarn and glue the bottom of the bluff.

Chinese Art Calendar & Activities
Explain to children that the Chinese lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. Each year, a cycle is named after an animal. Legend has it that Buddha invited all animals to join him for a New Year celebration but only 12 showed up. They argued about who was to head the cycle of years, so Buddha held a race-the first to reach the opposite bank the river would be first, and the rest of the animals that receive their years according to their finish. The race began, but unknown to the ox, the rat jumped on her back. As the bull was about to jump ashore, the rat jumped off the bull's back, and won the race. The pig, which was very loose, finished last. Therefore, the rat is the first year cycle of animals and the pig is the last. The Chinese believe that the decision of the year in animals that a person is born has a strong influence on the personality of that person. The children make their own Chinese calendar using our patterns. Let's find your zodiac sign and see if they match the characteristics of his personality.

Lai-See On
One of the most popular activities observed in the Chinese New Year is the custom of Hong Bao, or delivery small red (red is thought to bring good luck) envelopes full of money "lucky" to children by adults. To make your own red (see LAI) over, our pattern up on the red paper and assembling. Cut the end of a drinking straw to a point to make a quill. The children write about Chinese characters pen in the front of the envelope. Add a line of glue to the outer edge of the envelope and sprinkle glitter in gold. Shake off excess glitter. Add a coin to the envelope flap and seal with tape.

Clean and decorate the house
A common activity is Chinese New Year clean and decorate the house. It is believed that cleaning the house helps to sweep away the bad luck that may have accumulated during the past year. Encourage children to help tidy the house dust from all corners, wash the windows and sweep the rooms. Remember, however, that sweeping or dusting should not be done on New Year's Day, because the good fortune can be swept away! To decorate, help your children make paper curls. In the curl, write special messages like "good fortune", "good health" and "long life" and then hung in the house. Make and hang paper lanterns. fill the house with fresh flowers and flowering plants.

Snacks
Serve children oranges and tangerines during the Chinese New Year, since they symbolize wealth and good luck. Some other lucky foods are noodles, they represent a long life, clams and spring rolls, which reflect wealth, and glutinous rice cakes, which symbolize a rich and sweet life and abundance for the coming year.

About the Author:

Jolanda Garcia is a former teacher and educational content designer. Her goal is to provide parents and teachers with quality resources to promote their children's health, development, and creativity. Visit her websites at: Preschool activities and crafts, and www.eartwiggles.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Ring in the Year of the Rat With These Fun Chinese New Year Activities

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