Lunar New Year Activities for Kids

The Lunar New Year begins on Feb. 16, so there’s plenty of time to think about activities you can do with your kids related to the holiday.

The upcoming year is the year of the dog, which of course provides lots of crafting opportunities.

But if you want specific Chinese New Year projects, here are some options for you.

Tips from a Typical Mom has a nice roundup of Chinese New Year related activities, including crafts, songs, learning to use chopsticks and information about the upcoming year:

The sign of 2018 Earth Dog is mountains over mountains. 2018 will be a very strong Earth. That implies the events related to land, real estate, county territory, agriculture, earthquake, mineral and the Earth will be more active than before. In Chinese astrology, Earth is also connected to stability, meditation and religion. Many people will be interested in spiritual or religious study.

She also has some fun dog crafts.

The Imagination Box has a great Year of the Dog art activity that is a free download at Teachers Pay Teachers, which is part of her larger activity pack that runs $5.95.

Holidappy has some year of the dog coloring pages, with different kinds of dogs so you can download and color one that looks like your dog.

And Red Ted Art has a nice collection of general Chinese New Year crafts and activities that are great for any year. Lots of great dragon crafts, musical instruments and more.

Do you celebrate Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year with your kids? I’d love to know what you do!

Lots of Americans seem to think that May 5 is Mexican Independence Day, but that holiday actually falls on Sept. 16.

May 5 is the celebration of the Battle of Puebla, in which the Mexicans defeated the French in 1862. Independence Day marks the beginning of their fight for independence from Spain in 1810. That was the day of what’s known as El Grito de Dolores, or the cry of Dolores, for when the Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the church bells at his church in Dolores and declared that Mexico should be free from Spanish rule.

They would fight for their freedom until 1821 when they finally gained independence.

Fabulous Classroom has a little of the history and ideas for celebrating the holiday for all age groups. There’s also a link to a good video in that post about the real story of Mexican Independence Day.

Twinkl also has a good tops about the history and different activities, discussion ideas, crafts and foods that can be incorporated into lessons at school or used at home.

I also found a few pins that no longer link to a website but include good information on Mexican Independence Day, including some questions for students to answer based on the reading. You can find more printables and questions for kids from TX Homeschool Mama on Etsy (also available in Spanish).

You can find a lot more paid resources about Mexican Independence Day at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Mexican flag crafts are a fun option for celebrating Mexican Independence Day (though the current iteration of their flag has only been in use since 1968). Kids Activities Blog has a free Mexican flag printable and a few different ideas for decorating it including dot markers and torn tissue paper.

You can also find some great Mexican crafts at Red Ted Art. The post includes all sorts of Mexican inspired projects including Day of the Dead crafts, Frida Kahlo pinatas and upcycled musical instruments. I love the giant paper flowers they shared from Honestly WTF.

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