Year of the Snake Crafts for Kids

This year’s Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the year of the snake. Most people see snake as a negative because they are thought to be secretive, devious and jealous, but they can also be intuitive, diligent and persuasive. Celebrate the year of the snake at home or in the classroom with these fun ideas.

Top Marks has a simple spiral snake you can paint or decorate with markers for Lunar New Year. Since it’s showing dots you could also easily do this with dot markers.

Miss Panda Chinese has another printable spiral snake with a face you can color in and decorate. You can also print it on red paper. That page also has some words in Chinese you can practice while you craft.

Red Ted Art has collected all of their snake themed crafts into one page so you can pick out a few to try. One of my favorites is this folded paper snake from Craftiments, which uses strips of construction paper for the body and a painted piece of cardboard tube for the head.

Or use little cups and tissue paper to make a super cute snake puppet with this tutorial from Alpha Mom. This one is so fun for kids to make and to play with. If doing this one in a classroom, each child can make one cup and you can put them together to make a class snake decoration.

Xiao Panda Preschool has some cute Chinese zodiac printables on Teachers Pay Teachers, and you can get lots of ideas from her blog about Chinese New Year activities for preschool. You could also add a zodiac animals puzzle or adorable mini animals to your classroom for the season.

And while this one has nothing specific to do with Lunar New Year, I wanted to share this tutorial for making salt dough snakes from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls. It’s easy and fun to do and kids can paint them or decorate them in different ways.

Last month I shared a collection of beach crafts that used items from the beach like seashells and sand. This month’s collection is all about beach animals and things you might see at the beach that don’t require beachy materials to make. In fact you’ve probably got what you need to make most of these beach crafts in your house already.

How about paper plates? With a paper plate you can make this cute watercolor seashell from The Educator’s Spin on It, or an adorable seagull like this one from Glued to My Crafts.

Add some white beans and you can make paper plate sand dollars like Crafts by Amanda. Or use a paper plate as a frame for a sweet beach scene like this crab and turtle one from Artsy Craftsy Mom, which includes a downloadable template and instructions to make it super easy.

Or grab a paper plate and some bubble wrap to make a jellyfish like this one from Happy Toddler Playtime. If you have paper bowls instead of plates, you can also make a jellyfish from one of those, like Natural Beach Living did.

Use your stash of craft sticks and googly eyes to make crabs, fish, sharks and more with this craft idea from The Keeper of the Cheerios.

I love this little crab made with a cardboard tube from Hunny I’m Home. With this same idea I’ll bet you could make lots of different creatures.

Grab some construction paper to make the loopy tentacles on this watercolor jellyfish from Craftsy Hacks. Or make a stained glass jellyfish like this one from Life Anchored.

Make easy puffy paint to make these fun fluffy starfish from I Heart Crafty Things, or use cupcake liners to make cute little crabs (also from I Heart Crafty Things).

Turn an old pool noodle into some super cute fish with this tutorial from Happy Toddler Playtime.

And if you’ve got some leftover yarn lying around, make pompoms and turn them into turtles like these from Craftsy Hacks. (And check out my post on different ways to make pompoms if you need a refresher!)

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