In honor of Chinese New Year and Heritage Month at our son's preschool, my dear husband is going to talk about the holiday to our son's class. It will be interesting because my husband is not Chinese and did not grow up with these traditions. He has been celebrating for over 13 years, so I think it will be nice for him to speak about the parts which fascinate him the most.

In addition to ornate red lucky money envelopes with shiny new quarters in them, I thought it would be fun to also offer a craft project to the class. Dragon Dance: A Chinese New Year by Joan Holub is one of the books my husband will be reading to the class. In the back of this book I found easy instructions to make a paper bag dragon puppet. I had everything we needed in our home . . . brown paper lunch bags plus red and green construction paper. I thought I would share this easy craft here because it would be a great idea for a classroom project or a fun party activity for kids.


Below are all the components you need aside from markers, scissors, and glue or paste . . .

1) A brown paper lunch bag
2) A tongue 5"-6"L cut from red construction paper
3) 2 antennae about 10"L cut from green construction paper
4) 2 ovals for eyes (slightly wider than the antennae) cut from green construction paper

The basic instructions are easy and then the child can decorate the dragon however he or she wishes.

Step 2: Fold the bottom corners of the flap under and secure with glue.

Step 3: Draw ovals on the eyes for pupils and a line down the middle of the tongue.

Step 4: Glue the eyes and antennae onto the top of the bag.

Step 5: With marker, add a nose, a mouth, and scales to the body.

Step 6: Glue on the tongue underneath the flap.

That's it! Easy right? I was able to pre-cut all the construction paper pieces and put them right inside the individual brown paper bags to make kits for each child too.

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