Today I’m joining in with some of my fellow bloggers in the Kid Blogger Network to share some fun Chinese New Year crafts for kids! This year we’ve already shared our Chinese Lanterns and our cupcake liner sheep for the Year of the Sheep and today I’m sharing a simple Chinese fan craft that’s super simple to set up and uses a fun way to paint without a paintbrush!
Materials:
Fans (I picked mine up in The Works but you could just as easily use card or paper and hold it together with a staple)
Paint
Wool / yarn
How to make your Chinese Fans:
I must start by saying that I (shock horror) ended up doing this totally last minute before I was due to post it. I bought the fans back in January as I thought they looked cool, then I got involved in other stuff and then my son was ill all this week. Oops! So this afternoon when he finally seemed better I suggested decorating these fans as an activity and hurray he was finally up for it.
I cut some wool into long strands and asked him what colours he wanted to use, we’d already spoken about what colours mean what in Chinese culture so he was keen to go for red (apparently if he was wealthy he would buy an expensive Batman toy) and yellow which we view as helping him do well at playgroup. We used wool as this year will be the Year of the Sheep!
Painting using wool rather than a paintbrush is a fun way for kids to explore different ways of painting and using a fan that’s already in shape also allows then to experience painting on different textures. It’s obviously a bit hard to control but this allows them to just enjoy doing it and seeing how they can use the wool in different ways to change how the paint goes. Also it’s a bit messy which is always popular round ours!
Make sure you check out the great Chinese New Year craft ideas from my fellow KBN blogger and if you’d like to join in with the linky below just grab this badge and link back to our (very hardworking!) host Witty Hoots!
Chinese New Year Fortune God Mask from Witty Hoots
Chinese Lantern Sun Catchers from The Gingerbread House
TP Roll Chinese Lanterns from In the Playroom
Sheep Stick Puppets from Best Toys 4 Toddlers
Chinese (non firework) Firecrackers from Peakle Pie
Cheese Chinese Lanterns from Danya Banya
Felt Shape Sheep from Mama Smiles
Chinese Dragon Puppets from Messy Little Monster
Paper Plate Chinese Dragon from Kiddy Charts
Dragon Painting for Preschoolers from Learning and Exploring Through Play
Bubble Wrap Sheep from Multicraftingmummy
Chinese Dragon Dance from Study at Home Mama
Thumbprint Chinese Zodiac Craft from Fun Handprint Art Blog
Sheep Letter Recognition from Something 2 Offer
Chinese New Year Card from Creative World of Varya
Chinese Zodiac Animals in Lego from Planet Smarty Pants
We ll haveto give wool painting a try. gReat idea.
Great technique, and I like how the fans turned out!
These are adorable I have always wanted to make them I may have to try it now. Thanks for sharing