Chinese (Lunar) New Year Activities for Preschool at Home: Week 21

What is Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year)?

Before we go into the Chinese New Year activities for preschoolers that I have planned for this week, I thought I’d start by sharing what Chinese New Year is.

Chinese New Year is also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, and it’s a celebration of the beginning of the lunar calendar.

Lunar New Year falls on different days each year (usually in January or February). This year (2021) Chinese New Year is on February 12. And this year is the Year of the Ox.

I found this article on Oprah Mag if you want more information on Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year.

Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday in China. But other Asian countries such as South Korea also celebrate Lunar New Year.

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My Experience With Chinese New Year

I lived in China for 12 years (my family is not Chinese, we are ethnically Korean, but my parents worked there). Growing up there, I remember that Christmas and New Year was a very big celebration as it is here in the U.S.

I remember most of the people in my parents’ organization would go back to their hometowns to visit their families just once a year. And that was on Chinese New Year.

It was a huge holiday so even our international school would have Christmas vacation and then we would have a couple weeks back at school and then have a 2 week break for Chinese New Year.

Firecrackers on Chinese New Year

One of my other biggest memories of Chinese New Year was the firecrackers. Many people would set off firecrackers especially on Chinese New Year’s Eve right at midnight. This is traditionally said to scare off “bad spirits”.

It was extremely loud and and impossible to sleep through. I remember going out the next day to see our neighborhood covered in the remnants of firecrackers.

Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) Activities for Preschoolers

On to the reason you are here! I am so excited to do these Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year inspired activities for preschoolers with my boys this week.

As mentioned above, quite a few Asian countries celebrate Lunar New Year, but our activities are specifically inspired by Chinese and Korean culture.

Day 1: Toilet Paper Roll Chinese New Year Firecrackers Sensory Bin

I shared above that firecrackers are a big part of Chinese New Year celebrations, so I thought it would be fun to make some firecrackers using toilet paper rolls and place them in a colored rice sensory bin!

For step by step instructions on how to make toilet paper firecrackers, check out this post here. And read this post on how to make rainbow rice for sensory bins.

I have loads of toilet paper rolls saved up and I’m always happy to find ways to use them 🙂

Day 2: Chinese-inspired Lanterns

We made some paper lanterns a couple months ago for our winter walk. This week, we will be making similar lanterns but we will be using red cardstock instead of the white paper we used last time.

And instead of using 2 paper cups, we will be upcycling a glass jar (from pasta sauce).

Here’s a quick video of our paper lanterns we used on our winter walk.

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