Celebrate the Year of the Dragon

Chinese New Year (also sometimes called Lunar New Year) is February 10 this year, and to celebrate we’ve got a great collection of new year’s crafts. 2024 is the year of the dragon. Dragons are said to be charismatic, intelligent, confident and naturally gifted and lucky.

Dragon years are thought to bring good luck, and this year is the year of the wood dragon, which is expected to be a good time for growth, progress and abundance, which I think we would all take.

This printable Chinese zodiac placemat coloring page is so cute, and it will help you figure out what animal’s year everyone in the family was born in and what that means. You can download it from 3 Boys and a Dog.

Tot Schooling has printable lanterns for each of the animals in the Chinese zodiac that you can print, color and assemble to decorate for the holiday. They also have a collection of easy color by number pages, one for each animal.

In the Playroom has some cute printable activities including a coloring page, maze, word search, word scramble, do a dot page, follow the lines, I spy and a number puzzle. They are free to download.

Speaking of I Spy, Paper Trail Design has another cute I spy page with a new year theme.

Chalk Academy has a post full of craft ideas for Chinese New Year and explains why it’s not accurate to call it Lunar New Year (while lots of Asian cultures celebrate the new year at this time, the things we in the west typically associate with the celebration, like the zodiac, red envelopes, lanterns and dragons are really specific to Chinese culture). They also have a Lunar New Year activity pack you can buy that includes more traditions from other countries.

Messy Little Monster has a great collection of Chinese New Year crafts as well, which includes several dragon crafts if you’re looking for something specific to 2024 (though dragons are always a part of new year’s celebrations in China).

This paper plate dragon twirler from Red Ted Art is so cool and easy to make.

And don’t miss this roundup of books about the Chinese New Year if you want to learn more!

Chinese New Year Decorations

Chinese New Year Books

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Easy Activities for Lunar New Year

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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