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Dragon puppets are a good way to usher in the Chinese New Year whilst getting creative. They’re fun and easy to make, and are a fantastic way to explore the world’s cultures with young children. Follow our simple steps below and you’ll soon have a selection of fantastic Chinese puppets.
To make dragon puppets you will need
Coloured Craft Card
Giant Lolly Sticks
Mixed Feathers
Coloured Tissue Paper
Glitter Glue
Coloured Ribbon
Sticky Tape
Glue Stick
1. Cut a piece of coloured paper into the desired shape for your dragon’s head, then add some wiggly eyes and draw on the basic facial features. Our puppets heads came in many different shapes, so try experimenting and see which you like best.
2. Next, add colour and texture by gluing on some feathers and scrunched up tissue paper. Finishing off the main features with glitter glue and any colourful pens and pencils you have to hand.
3. To form the body of the puppet, cut a 6-8cm strip of red or yellow card and fold into a concertina shape.
4. Using sticky tape, attach the body to the back of the dragon’s head, then add a tail to the opposite end of the paper body using coloured ribbon. We stuck to the traditional Chinese New Year colours, red, yellow and gold, for our dragons, but you could experiment with others should you wish.
5. Finally, attach a giant lolly stick to each end of the dragon to act as the puppet’s handles.
Extension Idea
Children can use dragon puppets or create other animal puppets to make up their own stories.
Looking for more ideas for how to learn about and celebrate Chinese New Year with your class? Visit our dedicated page or follow us on Pinterest where we have loads more ideas for this and many other topics.
Follow The Consortium Education’s board Chinese New Year on Pinterest.