Take a piece of construction paper and fold it in half to form a long rectangle. on the fold side cut lines from the top to the bottom leaving about 2 inches on the top and bottom. It will look like a grass skirt or fringe. Unfold the paper and roll the top down to the bottom and glue or staple the ends together. Then take a strip of paper and glue or staple to the top of the lantern and hang.
Lantern2-
Take a 2 pieces of clear contact paper and pieces of red and yellow tissue paper and red crepe paper.
Take the two pieces of contact paper and cut a fishbowl shape and take the back paper of one piece and place the pieces of the tissue and at the bottom place long pieces of the crepe paper take the paper off the other contact paper and place over the tissue and press together. These look good hanging in a sunny window.
Is where the lion chases the old year represented by the sun and eats it to make a new year.
Make a sun out of paper mache or just make one out of yellow paper. Make lion masks for the children to wear. Pick one of the children to be the sun or be it yourself. Then have the kids wear the lion masks and chase you around till the catch you then they get to be the sun and you are out. It continues until there is no lions left.
The Lantern Festival -
The Festival of the Lanterns begins fifteen days after New Year's Day. It is celebrated with lantern shows and folk dances. Children display their lanterns in a night time parade. This is when the Chinese people welcome the first full moon of the new year. The Festival of the Lanterns mark the end of the New Year's celebration and life goes back to normal.
One of the legends of the festival is that the Heavenly Jade Emperor was so angry at a village for killing his favorite goose that he was going to burn it down. The people of the village was warned so they displayed every lantern they could find and the Jade Emperor seeing the light believed the town had burned on its own and took no action.
Hong Ching-Ting
ching ching ting
Shih Shang ching ching ting
shui shang ching ching ting
feng li ching ching ting
translation-
Red Dragonflies
Red dragonflies
gently stop
On the rocks gently they stop
On the water gently they stop
In the breeze gently they stop
To make a dragon fly-
one pair of red knee high hose
one pair of white knee high hose
3- 20 guage floral wire 18 inches long
thin floral wire - single pieces or on a roll
fiberfill
Take on of the red knee highs and stuff it with the fiberfill stuff a hard ball at the top of the knee high for the head and lightly stuff the rest of the knee high and tie a knot at the end.
Take the 20 guage wire and bend each end towards the middle in a teardrop shape twisting the ends around at the middle to secure. Take one of the white knee high and place the wire shape into it and tie off the end. Take some white thread and tie around the middle to form a wing shape. Make two of these. Then place together at the middles so you have four wings two on each side. Tie together with the thread.
Take the other 18 inch wire and thread it through the middle of the dragonfly starting at the tail and going towards the head. Make sure it doesn't come out of the knee high.
Take red thread and tie it around the top of the red knee high forming the head.
Take the wings and place right where the head is tied and take the thin wire and tie them onto the dragonfly.
Take some more of the thin wire and tie the body into three or four different segments.
Make a loop of wire at the wings and tie a piece of elastic thread or yarn to it and to a dowl stick or craft stick and your dragonfly is ready to fly and gently stop on top of the kids heads or hands or desks.
If you do not want to make edible ones you can make them out of tan felt.
Cut the felt into 4 inch circles and place the paper in the middle fold the felt in half and glue the edge making sure not to glue where the paper is coming out. Pinch the middle of the half moon shape and tie with tan thread making sure to pull the sides into the cookie shape remember not to tie to tight or you will not be able to get the paper out. Place them in a bowl then the kids can draw them out and pull the fortunes or questions out.
These are also good to place clues to find items that the Jade Emperor wants and the kids have to go on a quest to find the items to bring to the Emperor so they can be rewarded for finishing their quest.
