There are so many fun ways to celebrate Lunar New Year with your classroom. Here are some ideas that I’ve done:
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Paper Lanterns
Students decorated pieces of yellow and red construction paper with gold glitter, then we cut them to make lanterns.
I used some string to hang them from our window and ceiling on Lunar New Year! These were a beautiful decoration for our classroom celebration.
Symmetrical Dragon Paintings

Using paint and paper, students created their own Lunar New Year dragons. First, they put paint on one side of the paper, then folded it in half to create their symmetrical dragon. Then, we added googly eyes to complete their painting!
Lunar New Year Headbands
We made our own Lunar New Year headbands to wear during our celebration. Some years, we have made necklaces and bookmarks as well. You can find the templates here:
Loose Parts Provocation
Students explored loose parts and different images (find a copy here on Canva). I found different red and yellow items and had students create and build with them.
Lunar New Year Books
To learn more about the holiday, we read a few different books:
- This Next Year by Janet S. Wong
- Ruby’s Chinese New Year by Vickie Lee
- A Sweet New Year for Ren by Michelle Sterling
- Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim
Find even more great recommendations from MaiStoryBook.
Do you celebrate the Lunar New Year with your students? What do you do to celebrate? Let me know in the comments!