Celebrate the beauty of Malaysia’s multiculturalism with this glimpse into the Chinese New Year (CNY) festivities. If you’re looking for ways to introduce your little ones to CNY, here are some wonderful craft activities and books for kids to help you get started:
Content:
Books about CNY
2. Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas
3. Dragon Dance, A Chinese New Year Lift the Flap Book
CNY Arts and Craft
1. Drum craft
2. Dragon craft
Creative Workshops
1. Zodiac Animal Macarons, H.O.W Academy
2. Water Rabbit Festivities, GMMB
Books about CNY
Introduce or reinforce CNY traditions, culture and values through books that help to ignite imagination and curiosity. From interactive tabs to beautiful illustrations, these stories will intrigue and enlighten all young readers.Â
1. Busy Chinese New Year
Little ones can push, pull and slide the tabs to join in the celebrations in Busy Chinese New Year! Make the Lion and Dragon dance, enjoy a family banquet and watch the spectacular fireworks in this board book for young readers.Â
Recommended Age: Baby to 3 years oldÂ
2. Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas
Authored by Malaysian-born Natasha Yim, this book shares an aspect of Chinese-Malaysian culture through a clever retelling of the classic Goldilocks story. Enjoy the story of a plucky heroine who takes responsibility for her actions and makes a new friend (not to mention, a plateful of turnip cakes!), just in time for the New Year.
Recommended Age: 4 to 8 years oldÂ
3. Dragon Dance, A Chinese New Year Lift the Flap Book
This interactive book is great for parents and early readers to enjoy together. CNY traditions are showcased through fun flaps, as little ones are introduced to the concept of ang paos, reunion meals and other traditions, through the book’s engaging rhyming text.
Recommended Age: 2 to 5 years oldÂ
4. Ruby’s Chinese New Year
This story is bound to help your kids (and some of us older folk, too!) remember all 12 of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. Enjoy the cute illustrations in this picture book and find out how the animals from the Chinese zodiac help a little girl deliver a gift to her grandmother.
Recommended Age: 4 to 8 years oldÂ
CNY Arts and Craft
Get the kids crafting in preparation for the festivities with these CNY-themed pieces. Use these as decorations around the house, or bring these little masterpieces to show off to the aunties and uncles that they will be meeting at upcoming festive dinners!
1. Drum craft
A big part of CNY is the (very) loud sounds that are involved (Fun fact: The sounds of a firecracker are traditionally believed to chase away an evil beast called nian). Recreate the Bolang Gu, and get the kids to have some noisy fun on their drums with family members and friends.Â
To make this drum, punch holes at both ends of two paper plates. Decorate the plates as you wish and paste the edges together, with a wooden disposable chopstick placed in between as the handle. Attach bells (or plastic beads) to each end of the two strings. Hook both strings on each end of the hole punched plates.
Get the original tutorial here.Â
2. Dragon craft
Dragons are a symbol of power, strength and good luck in the Chinese culture. Extend the dragon-crafting fun by using the completed expandable craft as a puppet for a CNY-themed puppet show!
To make the dragon puppet, cut out a rectangular strip of red paper and fold it accordion-style. Draw out (or opt for this paid printable template) and colour the dragon’s head, tail and legs. Cut out yellow, orange and/or red crepe paper strips to represent the dragon’s fire and stick these onto the dragon’s mouth. Assemble everything onto two popsicle sticks.
Find the original tutorial here.
3. Kumquat painting
A super-simple craft activity that’s great for the younger tots. Whilst this might get a little messy, it’s easy enough to pull together, with no cutting involved. You could even set up this activity as a crafting spot for any little guests over the visitation period (we recommend the garden or balcony area for an easier clean up!).
To make the kumquat painting, stick an ang pao packet at the bottom of a blank piece of paper, draw on a tree trunk and branches, and have your kids go crazy finger-painting. You could even change it up by using pink paint to make cherry blossom trees as an alternative.Â
4. Bunny pop-up craft
Spring into the Year of the Rabbit with this bouncy bunny interactive craft by Kids Craft Room. It’s super easy to make, and can double up as a material for an imaginative game for older kids or as a peekaboo toy for the younger tots.Â
To make the bunny pop up craft, wrap a green coloured paper around a toilet roll and cut vertical lines down the top for the grass. Paint a popsicle stick with a colour of choice and stick googly eyes on it. Stick on a pom-pom for the nose. Cut out the ears and whiskers from felt, and stick on bunny.
Find the original tutorial here.
5. Firecracker craft
Recycle old ang paos (and toilet rolls) for this firecracker craft. Your kids will be proud to hang their completed masterpieces at the door handles of your homes to welcome visiting guests this CNY!
To make this craft piece, tie both ends of a string together as a hanger. Drape a long broad red ribbon through and staple it at the centerfold. Stick on a decorated red hexagon. Wrap and paste the ang paos around the toilet rolls and stick these onto the red ribbon.Â
Find the original tutorial here.
Creative Workshops
Parents, if you’d like to get into the spirit of making something this CNY yourselves, here are some fun workshops and events for adults that you could take part in this month too:
1. Zodiac Animal Macarons, H.O.W Academy
Change up the routine baking of Chinese New year butter cookies and spend the day with hands on workshop baking and decorating the 12 Chinese animal zodiacs. We are sure some kids will be getting lucky with these adorable sweet treats that looks too cute to eat!
Date:Â 14th January 2023
Time:Â 9:00am to 1:30pm
Venue:Â 7, Jalan SS 18/6, Ss18, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
2. Water Rabbit Festivities, GMMB
To kickstart the Year of the Water Rabbit, PingMin Market has partnered with Baik Selangor for a festive market with lots of crafty workshops to be held. Expect traditional and specially curated activities like knife sharpening, rabbit-themed crafts, stamping and more!
Date: 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th January 2023
Venue:Â GMBB KL, No. 2, Jalan Robertson, 50150, Kuala Lumpur
Looking for more family-friendly things to do and places to visit this CNY? Check out our earlier article for great events happening all this month!
