Learning about Chinese New Year? Our free Chinese lantern template is perfect as a simple activity that kids can decorate while they find out about this fun celebration.
Our Chinese lantern template is perfect for parents, teachers and preschool staff looking for an easy Chinese New year activity. It’s great for using at home, in classrooms or preschools and activities using it can easily be adapted for different age groups.
We’ve got lots of ideas on how you can use your Chinese lantern printable as well as more ideas and inspiration for Chinese New Year activities for kids.
RELATED: Chinese New Year Crafts for Toddlers
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What You'll Find on This Page
How To Celebrate Chinese New Year At Home With Kids
When my kids were younger we used to visit our local Chinese restaurant where they would put on a dragon dance for the Lunar New Year.
After we moved that was no longer possible but there’s still lots of ways you can celebrate Chinese New Year at home, try making and eating Chinese food together, putting up decorations and trying out Chinese New Year crafts and activities like the ones below.
You could even give red envelopes to each other, if you don’t want to put a crisp monetary note in as is traditional why not try a note for something fun like a movie night or staying up a bit past bedtime?
What’s Included In The Chinese Lantern Template PDF?
- This is a one page design in black and white to make it easy to print.
- It’s perfect for using at home, in classrooms or preschools or for library use.
- The PDF is free to download when you subscribe to our newsletter.
Chinese Lantern Craft Ideas
Coloring
This is the easiest go-to option for kids and there’s nothing wrong with that at all!
Just print your template onto white paper and grab your coloring pencils, markers or crayons.
Dot stickers
Using dot stickers like these would be a great mess free way to colour in your lantern and stickers are also great for helping with your child’s pincer grasp and hand strength.
The OT Toolbox has a great article on the benefits of playing with stickers from an occupational therapy point of view if you’d like to find out more about this.
Mosaic
Make an easy mosaic Chinese lantern craft like this fun activity I did with my daughter.
Older kids can try to create a proper mosaic pattern without the paper pieces touching while for young kids you can help them add the glue to the main shape so that all the bits of paper stay in the correct area.
This activity is a great way to practice using scissors too.
Washi Tape
Cut or tear pieces of colored washi tape and use them to decorate your lantern template.
Tissue Paper
Check out our tissue paper lanterns for inspiration. We scrunched tissue paper to colour in the main part of our lanterns.
How To Make A Chinese Lantern From Paper
If you’d like to make a Chinese lantern out of paper or card they’re really easy to make and a bit of a kids craft classic!
We made these lanterns and decorated them. To make Chinese lanterns just follow the same instructions but use red card or paper for your lantern instead.
More Chinese New Year Crafts
Download and color our printable 3D Chinese New Year Scene with four different designs to choose from.
This Chinese Dragon craft uses another of our free printable templates and is painted using q-tips.
Use our free paper lantern template and make this spring blossom inspired Chinese lantern craft.
How To Download Your Free Chinese Lantern Template PDF
To get your free Chinese lantern craft template just subscribe below in the box. We won’t send you spam and you can unsubscribe at any time
Once you’ve confirmed your email address your template will be delivered to your inbox as a free gift.
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Cute lantern – suitable for six year olds to make!