Year of the Rabbit Craft Ideas

As I mentioned the other day, 2023 is the year of the rabbit in Chinese astrology. Because it’s a 12-year cycle, you are a rabbit if you were born in 2011, 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963 or 1951 (and so on).

People born in the year of the rabbit are said to be sensitive, gentle and compassionate, with a good memory and a good sense of humor. They tend to be creative homebodys who don’t like conflict.

If you want to make some crafts with your kids to celebrate the year of the rabbit, here are some ideas that aren’t all Easter Bunny style rabbits. Also: white is considered an unlucky color in China (because it’s worn for funerals) so make sure even if you are making more of an Easter bunny type craft for Lunar New Year that you make it red, blue, purple or pink instead.

Red Ted Art always has great collections of crafts for holidays, and their year of the rabbit crafts are no exception. While some of these are more bunny than rabbit, there’s an awesome origami rabbit you’ll definitely want to try. She’s also got a printable rabbit greeting card and a rabbit puppet that can be printed with the Chinese symbol for rabbit on its tummy. So cute!

Happy Toddler Playtime has also pulled together a bunch of rabbit crafts, and a lot of these have been done in red so they’re perfect for the new year. I love this fork painted rabbit but there are lots of options for littles, including paper crafts, Popsicle stick rabbits,a sock rabbit and more.

If your tastes run a little less crafty, Crafts on Sea has an adorable printable Chinese New Year coloring scene, complete with a little rabbit. A little assembly is required but it’s not difficult.

And if you have paper cups and straws you can easily make this rabbit craft from Hello Wonderful. It has a white face but you could make it in other colors if you like.

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Celebrate the Year of the Dragon

If you want to teach kids the basics of Hanukkah in the classroom or at home, the picture book Hanukkah by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Rotem Teplow is a nice place to start.

The book explores the Jewish holiday through the eyes of Lior, a boy whose name means “my light” in Hebrew, which is appropriate for talking about the Festival of Lights.

The book goes through all the preparations the family does, including cleaning, setting the table and cleaning the menorah. It talks about what the menorah symbolizes and the Hanukkah story of the oil in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem lasting for eight days when it should have only been a one-day supply.

The meaning of the letters on the dreidel are also explored, in that when you are in Israel they have a different fourth word (the letters symbolize the Hebrew letters for “a great miracle happened there” or, in Israel, “a great miracle happened here”).

Because the story of Hanukkah involves oil, a lot of the foods that are eaten during the celebration are fried in oil, such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (fried jelly doughnuts). Other foods mentioned include challah, noodle kugel and sour cream and applesauce, which are served with the latkes. Family and friends drop by to share their food, light their menorahs together and play dreidel (the game is explained in the story). It also talks about how the candles are lit through the eight days and what happens at the end of Hanukkah.

The book includes Hanukkah blessings in English and Hebrew and talks about the lunar cycle of the Hebrew calendar, which is why Hanukkah is sometimes celebrated in November and sometimes in December. It also talks about why Jewish holidays are celebrated beginning at sunset rather than in the morning.

Other topics covered include Hanukkah greetings; how to spell Hanukkah; how to make an edible menorah and an tzedakah box (to collect money for charity); recipes for latkes and applesauce; and a more detailed story of Hanukkah than is included within the story of the book. There’s also a quiz to see how well you were paying attention.

This sweet little book is a quick read and a cute overview of the basics of Hanukkah and what the symbols, foods and games mean. It’s a great book for classrooms or at home for sharing basic knowledge.

About the book: 48 pages, hardcover. Published 2024 by words & pictures, suggested retail price $14.99.

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Have you read?

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