Love this time of the year with all the celebrations of Chinese New year, with all the beautiful decorations and activities. There is loads on in our city and that made me think of writing and creating. Welcome to the Year of the Rabbit! Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is a time for families to come together and celebrate.
One way to get in the festive spirit is by creating your own Chinese New Year arts and crafts. Here's a step-by-step guide to making a traditional Chinese lantern:
Step 1: Gather materials. You will need red paper, scissors, glue, and a pencil.
Step 2: Cut the red paper into a rectangle. The size of the rectangle will depend on the size of the lantern you want to make. A good starting point is 20 centimeters by 30 centimeters.
Step 3: Fold the rectangle in half horizontally. This will create a crease in the middle of the paper.
Step 4: Use the pencil to draw a line from the top corner of the paper on one side, to the middle crease. Repeat this step on the other side so that the two lines meet at the middle crease.
Step 5: Cut along the lines you just drew. You should now have two identical triangle shapes.
Step 6: Take one of the triangle shapes and fold it in half vertically. This will create a smaller triangle shape.
Step 7: Repeat step 6 with the other triangle shape.
Step 8: Take one of the small triangle shapes and fold the top corner down to the middle crease. Repeat this step with the other small triangle shape.
Step 9: Apply glue to the top of the lantern (the part that is not folded) and attach the two small triangle shapes to it, one on each side.
Step 10: Apply glue to the bottom of the lantern (the part that is folded) and attach the two small triangle shapes to it, one on each side.
Step 11: Your lantern is now complete! You can add a string to the top of the lantern so that you can hang it up.
Chinese lanterns are traditional decorations during Chinese New Year and are often seen hanging in homes, streets and shop windows. You can also be creative and make your own designs and patterns on the lantern.
This is one of the many traditional arts and crafts that you can make during the Chinese New Year, and it is a fun and easy way to get into the festive spirit.
We would love to see your creations and what your favourite experiences are. If you are going out to events, please share your pics. We are going to parade and hope to take loads of photos.
Have fun and Happy New Year!