Happy New Year… Again
You don’t have to be Chinese to appreciate and enjoy this annual New Year’s celebration. Introduce your kids to a new culture (or reinforce your own) with these savvy ways to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit.
- Celebrate the bunny. As it’s the Year of the Rabbit, it’s a fun reason to bring the bunny into the home before it resurfaces again in Easter. Create your own bunny ears with construction paper then have a game of ‘Bunny Hop Freeze’ (same as dance freeze, only you’re hopping to music rather than dancing).
- Enjoy some Chinese food. Whether you create a simple stir-fry, pull out your wok and get more elaborate, or just order in, it’s a great reason to indulge in this tasty cuisine.
- Fortune charades. You don’t need the cookies for this game. The ‘fortunes’ can be anything you’d like: actions to try (such as jump forward five steps), titles or names to ‘act out’. For the little ones, use all the creatures in the Chinese Zodiac and see if they can act out the physical actions and sounds of the different animals.
- Make paper lanterns. An easy craft that can be made with construction paper or newspaper, the lanterns are symbolic of the holiday and a fun thing to do with the kids. Fold the sheet of paper in half length-wise. Cut slits one inch apart that don’t quite reach the end (so the paper remains intact). Unfold the paper, and curl it round like a cylinder. Tape the ends together and you’ve got a lantern.
Do you celebrate Chinese New Year?
