Lunar New Year activities for young children

Lunar New Year activities in early childhood settings provide hands-on, play-based opportunities for young children to explore festive traditions while developing key motor, cognitive, and social-emotional skills. Celebrating this traditional festival allows children to learn about cultural events through sensory, artistic, and cooperative learning experiences. Lunar New Year is celebrated by many families across East and Southeast Asia, making it a meaningful seasonal celebration to introduce in Singapore preschool classrooms.

Early childhood educators in Singapore, including those in MOE kindergartens, often plan cultural activities across Nursery 1 (N1), Nursery 2 (N2), Kindergarten 1 (K1), and Kindergarten 2 (K2) levels. Integrating these experiences into your weekly planning helps children connect their home lives with classroom routines. Teachers can easily browse resources or search specific topics in the Superbuddy library to find matching printable templates. A free account lets you start with five download credits each month to print classroom tools that support these themes.

Here are five practical, hands-on activities to celebrate Lunar New Year in your early years classroom.

Red-and-gold collage

Creating a textured red-and-gold collage allows children to explore color symbolism while developing their tactile senses and fine motor control.

• Materials: Red construction paper, gold foil sheets, and child-safe glue.
• Steps:
  1. Encourage children to tear red paper and gold foil into small pieces.
  2. Guide children to paste the torn pieces onto a background to create custom patterns.

This art experience encourages creative expression and supports bilateral hand coordination.

Paper lantern crafts

Making simple paper lanterns helps young learners practice bilateral coordination, folding, and scissor skills.

• Materials: Red and gold paper, safety scissors, and child-safe glue.
• Steps:
  1. Help children fold a sheet of paper in half lengthwise.
  2. Guide children to make straight, parallel cuts from the folded edge, stopping before the margin.
  3. Unfold the paper, roll it into a cylinder, and secure the edges.

This project develops fine motor skills as children focus on folding, cutting, and pasting.

Dragon-dance gross motor play

Leading a cooperative dragon dance encourages physical movement, spatial awareness, and teamwork.

• Materials: Large lightweight fabric.
• Steps:
  1. Gather a small group of children in a line under a long sheet of fabric.
  2. Give the child at the front a simple dragon head prop.
  3. Play rhythmic music, guiding the children to walk and move together in a wavy line.

This game promotes gross motor coordination, rhythm recognition, and cooperative play.

Zodiac animal masks

Creating simple masks based on the traditional zodiac animals introduces children to cultural storytelling.

• Materials: Paper plates, crayons, and wooden craft sticks.
• Steps:
  1. Introduce the zodiac animals as a traditional storytelling custom.
  2. Provide children with printed mask templates of a chosen animal.
  3. Guide children to color the mask and attach a wooden craft stick.

This activity encourages dramatic play and oral language skills during group circle time.

Red packet number games

Using empty or pretend red packets for counting games helps build early mathematical reasoning in a playful context.

• Materials: Empty red packets and small counters.
• Steps:
  1. Write a clear number on the front of each empty red packet.
  2. Ask children to identify the number.
  3. Guide children to count out the correct number of items and place them inside the packet.

This math game reinforces one-to-one correspondence, number recognition, and counting skills.

Adapting activities for Singapore preschool levels

To ensure all children participate successfully, adapt these festive tasks to suit the developmental needs of your specific age group.

For younger children in N1 and N2 (ages 2–4), focus heavily on sensory exploration and basic motor movements. Open-ended tearing and pasting during the collage activity or simply holding and walking under the dragon-dance fabric are highly beneficial.

For older children in K1 and K2 (ages 4–6), you can introduce more structured activities. These children can manage the folding and scissor cuts required for the paper lanterns with minimal assistance. During the red packet number games, you can ask them to compare packets to determine which contains more or fewer items.

By tailoring each task to match child development stages, you can make the Lunar New Year celebrations highly engaging while supporting key early learning outcomes.