Chinese New Year Classroom Activities

Chinese New Year classroom activities

Are you looking for Early Years Chinese New Year classroom activities? Or KS1 Chinese New Year activities? Then you’ve come to the right place! We have a whole range of Chinese New Year classroom resources for Early Years and KS1 for home learning, classroom activities and Early years settings. So what are we waiting for? Let’s get started! With 2021 being The Year of the Ox, we’re getting ready with our Year of the Ox classroom activities and resources and can’t wait to show you all what we’ve got planned! From Chinese New Year display materials to Chinese New Year craft activities, we’ve got loads of ideas to save you time and delight children, teaching them all they need to know about Chinese New Year.

How do you make Chinese New Year crafts?

One question we often hear from teachers, practitioners and parents is – how to make simple Chinese New Year crafts – luckily, it couldn’t be simpler! There are lots of chinese crafts that children can make, and we’ve made it as easy as possible.

Chinese New year fan craft
Chinese New year fan craft

This easy to make Chinese fan is really popular, and can easily be made with a paper plate, red acrylic or vinyl paint, and then gold sharpie (or gold paint). Encourage children to use their fine motor skills to do beautiful gold Chinese style patterns on the red background. It looks beautiful! When you’re done, attach two craft sticks to the back of the paper plate so that children can use the fan, and maybe do a Chinese fan dance!

You could also make a fun paper Chinese fortune cookie craft – such an easy way to celebrate Chinese New Year in EYFS and at home.

Chinese new year fortune cookie template
Chinese new year fortune cookie template

Chinese New Year Lantern Template

We love a good Chinese lantern here at Mrs Mactivity, and our DIY Chinese New Year lantern is not only really easy to make, it also looks amazing! Our Chinese lantern paper crafts come in a variety of designs and can either be created in colour, or designed by children themselves.

Chinese lantern craft template
Chinese lantern craft template

The colour version makes an instant Chinese New Year lantern display area for your classroom or Early Years setting.

Chinese new year lantern craft template
Chinese new year lantern craft template

Chinese New Year Colouring Sheets

We know that sometimes you’re looking for something that children can easily access independently whilst covering your Chinese New Year topic – and our Chinese writing activity is ideal for both learning and colouring!

Chinese New Year (Chinese Characters) Colouring and Word Trace
Chinese New Year (Chinese Characters) Colouring and Word Trace

Don’t forget our brand new Year of the Ox mindfulness colouring!

Year of the Ox Mindfulness Colouring Pages
Year of the Ox Mindfulness Colouring Pages

Chinese New Year Early Years Maths Activities

If you are covering Chinese New Year in your EYFS classroom as your topic this month, then our Chinese New Year maths resources are ideal. We’ve got Chinese New Year colour by number to help children with their counting and fine motor skills.

Chinese New Year colour by number
Chinese New Year colour by number

Work on fine motor skills and understanding of mathematics at the same time with our Chinese number activity. Use playdough to make the Chinese characters, then discuss with children what each symbol means. You can also extend this activity by asking children to create their own sums using the characters on whiteboards.

Chinese New Year Writing Activities for Kids

If you’re interested in teaching children more about the story of the Chinese Zodiac, our Chinese New Year writing activity is for you (and it’s differentiated too!). Ask children to use their knowledge of Chinese New Year for this close procedure activity.

Chinese new year story of the zodiac writing activity
Chinese new year story of the zodiac writing activity

If children are doing free writing activities about the Chinese zodiac, they can use our Chinese zodiac word mats to help with their vocabulary and spelling skills.

Chinese zodiac word mat
Chinese zodiac word mat

EYFS Chinese New Year Planning Overview

Chinese New Year is such a great topic to cover in Early Years and KS1, and if you’re looking to save time and get loads of good ideas, our EYFS CNY planning overview is ideal! All nicely linked to the Early Years Framework.

EYFS chinese new year planning overview
EYFS chinese new year planning overview

Chinese New Year Reading Comprehension for KS1

It can be difficult sometimes to find useful Chinese New Year reading comprehension activities for year 1 and year 2, so we wanted to save you time by creating something just perfect! Our Chinese New Year reading comprehension activity is pitched perfectly, and links nicely to the KS1 National Curriculum.

Chinese new year comprehension activity
Chinese new year comprehension activity

Like what you see? Access all of these Chinese New Year classroom and home learning activities by signing up for a Mrs Mactivity membership today.

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