No matter what year it is, the dragon is ever-present in Chinese New Year celebrations. Dragons represent the Chinese people, who some believe have descended from dragons, as well as good fortune. Dragon dances are common sights in Chinese New Year parades and you can have the children make their own dragon dancer. Have the children cut two dragon head shapes out of sturdy paper. Glue the top half of the heads together with a glue stick, leaving the bottom half unglued. Have them draw or paint on the dragon's face. Then insert the top of a wooden Popsicle stick in between the head shapes and glue together with white glue.
Tell the children about the animal corresponding to that year's Chinese New Year celebration and have some example photos on hand if you can. Have the children make an animal mask in the image of that animal. Pass out paper plates to the children. Have them cut out animal ears from construction paper and glue them to the paper plates. Let them paint the animal masks and draw on the faces. Then help the children punch one hole from each side of the mask and tie a piece of string so that they can tie the masks to their faces.
Another Chinese New Year animal craft activity is to have the children build the animals themselves. Have the children cut out an animal body and a head out of construction paper. Glue the head onto the body. Have the children cut pipe cleaners for the ears and a tail, and glue them on. Have the children draw a face. They could also glue on googly eyes.
There are many edible items associated with Chinese New Year, such as oranges, tangerines, peanuts, coconuts, pumpkin seeds and candy. Bring in some real-life examples of these foods as models. Have the children create their own lucky Chinese New Year food tray by drawing some of the food items onto white paper with markers. They should then cut them out, arrange them as they like on a red-colored paper plate and then glue them to the paper plate. Have the children give the tray to their parents as a gift.