Introduce your students to the Chinese New Year with this delightful dragon craft featured on Preschool Crafts for Kids*. What we love about this idea is that you can tailor it to the age of your kiddos!

Completing the Dragon Craft

If you're like me, and all artistic talent seems to have skipped right on over you, you'll want to find a dragon clipart image online that you can use for tracing the dragon's head, tail, legs and mane!

Start with a white piece of 9" x 12" construction paper. Give each student a piece of yellow and orange construction paper (or you can use any color of your choosing) and have them trace and cut out two handprints from each color. Then, have them cut out the rest of the dragon pieces to complete the body (we recommend having the pieces already traced onto the correct color of construction paper to save time). They will need the head, 2 legs and tail on green construction paper and the mane and tail on red construction paper.

Once all of the needed pieces are cut out, have the kids glue their four handprints to the middle of the page for the dragon's body, followed by the head, tail, mane and legs. Once the pieces are glued down, have them color in the dragon's "fire breath" with a red crayon, glue on a pair of wiggle eyes (or you could create eyes from white and black construction paper) and finish by writing "Chinese New Year" at the top of the page.

Craft Variation (for Younger Kids)

If your kiddos are not quite ready to be using scissors, you will need to cut out the pieces of the dragon body ahead of time. Then, to get them involved, use orange and yellow washable paint (or whichever colors you choose) to create the handprints for the dragon body. Once the paint dries, have the students glue down the pieces you previously cut out and have them draw in the "fire breath." Don't forget to add the title at the top for them as well!