15 Colorful Chinese New Year Printables for Kids
Ring in the Lunar New Year with these bright and colorful Chinese New Year Printables for Kids! Includes decor, games, activities and more!
Isn’t it wonderful that you can celebrate New Year all over again a month after January 1st? We do too, that’s why we love celebrating Chinese New Year!
The Chinese base their New Year on the lunar calendar. It usually falls in February and signifies the end of winter and the beginning of warmer weather. However, there’s a far more interesting story behind the celebration!
The Story Behind Chinese New Year
There was once a scary beast called Nian, who lived in a village. Nian used to pop up during the Spring Festival every year and destroy the village and eat the villagers, especially children.
One year the villagers decided that they’d had enough and would hide from Nian. An old man said that he would stay behind and guard the village. Before the villagers left, they saw him putting up red papers and preparing to burst firecrackers.
The next morning, the villagers returned and found that their village was intact. The old man fulfilled his promise! They then realized that Nian was scared of loud noises and the color red – a fact the old man used. From then on, the villagers began to decorate their homes in red, wear red clothes, beat drums and burst firecrackers to scare Nian away. Their problem was solved!
That’s why even today, Chinese New Year celebrations are marked with red decorations, firecrackers and gatherings of people. It is also a time for removing old items and replacing them with new things, which is why we’ve got you a brand new list of activities today, with these colorful Chinese New Year Printables for kids!
15 Colorful Chinese New Year Printables for Kids
1. Chinese Zodiac Animals Coloring Pages
The Chinese Zodiac, based on the Chinese lunar calendar is quite interesting, featuring 12 different animals. Based on this, each year is assigned to a specific animal, and it goes on in a particular order – rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Go ahead and enjoy coloring in all these animals with this printable set.
2. Chinese Zodiac Animal Headband Set
The year you were born corresponds to a certain animal on the Chinese zodiac, and it is believed that your personality may be similar to that animal’s! Find your spirit animal from this set of animal headbands so you can go ahead and wear it with pride!
3. Chinese New Year Bingo Printable
Yes, this list is called ‘Chinese New Year printables’, but the fact is that Chinese New Year is celebrated in many places outside China too – Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and more! Hawaii Travel with Kids brings us a fun Bingo game printable celebrating the many cultural aspects of China.
4. Chinese Zodiac Animals Printable Stick Puppets
The story goes that when the calendar was being put together, all the animals wanted to be included. Since there were only 12 spots, the Chinese emperor held a race – the top 12 would enter the calendar, in the order of their win. And that’s how the rat won the race and ended up being the first on the list! Try to recreate that mythical race with these stick puppets from Tea Time Monkeys.
5. Chinese Waving Lucky Cat Craft
You may have noticed the cat with the waving arm in many Southeast Asian establishments. The cat is a symbol of fortune in Chinse culture and is placed in homes, offices and businesses. The cat appears to be ‘beckoning’ in customers, wealth and good luck! Kids Craft Room has a cute printable that you can use to make your own lucky cat.
6. Printable Chinese New Year Good Luck Ornaments
As the Chinese New Year approaches, people clean out their homes and decorate it with lanterns, couplets and other items. Made with Happy brings us a DIY Chinese New Year ornament that adds a nice touch to your traditional decor!
7. Chinese Lucky Red Envelopes Printable
An important tradition during the Chinese New Year is the gifting of money. Generally older members of the family gift money to the younger ones, but they don’t just hand it out; they offer it very graciously in stylish red envelopes! Here’s how you can make your own beautiful red envelopes, with this printable from Southern Mom Loves.
8. Spinning Chinese Zodiac Wheel Printable
2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Last year was the Year of the Rabbit and the next will be the Year of the Snake. If you’re finding it hard to keep track or would just like to find out the year of your birth, this spinning Chinese Zodiac wheel from Chalk Academy will be of great help!
9. Chinese New Year 3D Coloring Page
Yes, two-dimensional coloring pages are all well and nice, but what if you could get your hands on some three-dimensional Chinese New Year printables? Red Ted Art brings us a 3D coloring page featuring a splendid dragon – perfect for this year!
10. Chinese Zodiac Animal Bookmarks
In Chinese culture, certain things or creatures are considered lucky charms or mascots; some of these are the dragon, unicorn, phoenix and dragon turtle. It is believed that if you see any of these on the day of the Chinese New Year, you’ll be blessed with good luck in the coming year. Well, we’re not taking any chances, that’s why we’re going to make this beautiful dragon bookmark from Baker Ross!
11. Printable Chinese Paper Lanterns
Lanterns are a very important part of the decorations for the Chinese New Year. In fact, there is a Lantern Festival held every year to mark the end of the two-week New Year celebrations. It is a symbolic way of letting go of everything bad or hurtful, so you can make space for good things. Kitchen Table Classroom shows us how to make our own pretty lanterns, which we can hang up in our homes.
12. Printable Chinese Village Diorama
Chinese villages have some of the most enthusiastic celebrations for Chinese New Year. In the buildup to the New Year, people are rehearsing performances, making decorations and preparing special delicacies like millet cake. Woo Jr. gives us an opportunity to create a little Chinese village diorama – we love how detailed it is!
13. Chinese New Year Word Search
One of the most important ways people celebrate Chinese New Year is by getting together with their families. In fact, the special meal had is called the ‘reunion dinner’! After dinner, spend some quiet time with each other by playing this fun wordsearch game from Made with Happy!
14. Chinese Zodiac Character Coloring Pages
Lotta Magazine brings us a printable that is many things all at once! It is a coloring page to begin with, and once colored, you can turn it into special New Year ornaments, or puppets or bookmarks – the choice is yours!
15. Printable Lunar New Year Cootie Catchers
Since the Chinese New Year is also the time of the Spring Festival, it is a time to worship ancestors, kick out evil spirits and pray for a good harvest/bounty in the coming year. We wish you all the luck too, and maybe this fortune teller from Kids Craft Room can help!
You’ll notice that most of the Chinese New Year printables featured here are in bright red – it’s not a coincidence! In Chinese culture, the color red is significant. It represents energy, vibrancy, good fortune and happiness. After all, it’s hard not to feel cheerful and energized with such a bright color all around you!
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