6 Crafts You Can Do With Your Kids to Celebrate Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year is a celebration during the first new moon of the calendar. In 2025, this date falls on Jan. 29, 2025.

The holiday is celebrated by billions around the globe and is an important part of certain cultures, including those in the Middle East, parts of Asia, and North America.

There are plenty of great places to get inspiration for Lunar New Year crafts for kids, including educational blogs and Pinterest. As for Lunar New Year activities, if you don't live in an area hosting a traditional parade, you may be able to come up with an idea for yourself by looking at this list of fun suggestions.

If you're looking for a fun way to mark the milestone that is the transition between one Lunar New Year to the next, consider helping your kids create their own dragon, like this one from KiwiCo.

Perfect for those aged 5-16, this craft will quickly turn interactive after your child has finished putting all the pieces together, allowing them to make their very own fire-breathing dragon.

This will be especially fun for those who can't travel to the parades featuring life-sized versions of these dragons. You can download a printable form from the website and gather supplies like tissue paper, pom poms, and basic craft essentials like scissors and glue.

Red lanterns are a staple for those celebrating the Lunar New Year, which is why making one for yourself is a great way to celebrate at home.

The lantern, which serves as a symbol of good luck, can be made by following these directions from the Baker Ross blog. You'll need some red poster board, scissors, gems, gold foil, and a large white poster board.

When you're done, you can add a battery powered tea light to make it glow, which represents the illumination you'll need to see your way to a prosperous new year.

Dragons are a very symbolic part of the Lunar New Year, which is why so many crafts and activities feature them. Take this one from the Red Ted Art blog, for example. It offers directions for using a popsicle stick, construction paper, scissors, and glue to create the perfect dragon mask for your kiddo.

The best part about this craft is that it can be customized to be easier for younger kids or more complex for older children.

If you want to use Lunar New Year as an opportunity to practice your singing skills with your kids, consider teaching them some popular rhymes and songs to celebrate the season. There are a lot of examples on YouTube, like this one from Pauline Willoughby, which talks about dragons and their traditional role in parades.

The West Coast Mommy blog has a way that you can celebrate the Lunar New Year sustainably by using some of your old toilet paper rolls to make a firecracker door hanger.

Firecrackers are used to signal the arrival of the dancers during most traditional parades, which is everyone's cue to get ready for an exciting performance.

If you follow the instructions on this woman's blog, you'll be able to make your own firecracker wall hanger. You can use the wall hanger as a reminder of the joy and excitement of Lunar New Year. Just follow her suggestions of incorporating red and gold into the design so that you can keep it truly on brand with the traditional celebration.

This idea from KiwiCo involves taking your kids out for a walk to gather supplies for making these darling blooming cherry trees. It also allows you to get some fresh air while crafting!

This craft is geared towards those ages 3-7. You'll want to keep the result up long after the Lunar New Year since the pretty white and pink tissue paper blossoms will brighten up your home. You can get the full instructions by visiting their website.

No matter how you and your children decide to celebrate the Lunar New Year, make sure you do it in a culturally responsible way and respect the traditions associated with the holiday.