Chinese New Year is just around the corner on Saturday 25th January. This year we are celebrating by making some Chinese New Year themed crafts, all of which should be a doddle to put together. We’ve decided to start off big by making some seriously fun Chinese New Year dragons.
As I always say, I’m not particularly ‘crafty’, so this will be an easy make. Promise! Though it does require a few more supplies than usual.
You will need (to make 3 dragons)
Step 1
To begin with, paint your 3 empty toilet rolls – inside and out. Ideally, paint each one a different colour for effect. Leave to dry.
Step 2
Once your ‘dragon heads’ *the toilet rolls 😉 are completely dry, it’s time to put them together. Start by sticking your googly eyes to the larger pompoms and leave to dry if using PVA glue.
Step 3
Next, attach your eyes to your dragon heads, and then smaller pompoms to make their noses. *TIP: to stop your dragon heads rolling away, use the lolly sticks to prop them up for this stage.
Step 4
Now it’s time to make the dragon bodies. Start by cutting out 3, 6 cm wide strips of card. Ideally each body should be a different colour. Little Button did this herself, but younger ones may need help.
Step 5
Fold each dragon body into a concertina fold and set aside for later.
Step 6
Dragons love to breathe fire, so be sure to add a generous amount for a brilliant effect. Little Button roughly cut strips of yellow and red tissue paper to make the ‘flames’. She then stuck these to the top of the dragons mouths with glue.
Don’t they look great!
Step 7 (nearly done)
Cut up further strips of tissue paper in different colours and attach to the end of each body to make the dragon tails.
Step 8
Now it’s time to stick all the pieces together. Remember those lolly sticks? Stick one at each end of all 3 dragon bodies. And finally, attach each body to a dragon head. We used PVA glue to begin with, but found it wouldn’t hold, so used gluey dots instead. A staple would probably hold ever better.
How fun are these!
You can use the sticks to make your Chinese New Year dragons dance. Or, blow through the back of it’s head to see it’s flames blaze.
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These are so cute and I’m definitely making them with my nieces when they visit next month! #DreamTeam
These look so fun to make! I love the concertina bodies. #DreamTeam
So cute. E got a craft set for Christmas so definitely going to try these!
These look so cool, Annette… must pass on to my sister in law who has two small, busy boys, one especially creative. #DreamTeam
Who doesn’t love a dragon with pom pom nostrils?
Love these, I am collecting loo rolls already x #DreanTeam
Erin is learning about this at nursery this month. I might try to make these with her.
These look fantastic! You’re right, an easy make, or at least it looks so.
A lot of fun to be had with them I’m sure x
I love your crafts posts – so honest and real and lovely. Actually have some googly ideas so may make these even though my teens will no doubt show no interest at all – cherish these moments with younger children as they go faster than you think #DreamTeam
These are so cute! My youngest made something like this at nursery last year. Yours have turned out great!
Aww this is such a fun activity – I must do this with my daughters 🙂
What a cute activity to celebrate the Chinese New year X #dreamteam
These look brilliant and I am sure my daughter would love to get messy making them. Question is, do I have the energy? Ha! Enjoy the crafts and festivities #DreamTeam
These look amazing. I’ll have to have a go at making some with Oscar 🙂
Louise x
My daughter is half Chinese so I was thinking we need to get cracking on some Chinese New Year crafts. Thanks for the inspiration!
These look brilliant we are so going to try it with my dragon fans. I love how colourful they are too. #DreamTeam
Oh these look lovely. I think we might have to try these in our house! Little Miss would love making them.
These dragons turned out really well, I am going to try and recreate this with my nephew for crafts day coming up.
These look really colourful & super easy too! #DreamTeam