Chinese New Year 2016: The Year of the MONKEY

February provides a wealth of integrated arts inspiration for Art Teachers! February 8th (2016) is Chinese New Year--the Year of the Monkey. Here are some of the projects from my site that I've done with my students over the years along with some resources and projects from the interweb that I love. 

My previous posts:

Chinese Calligraphy Placemats/Posters

Easy Paper Lanterns

Dragon Puppets

Projects I LOVE from around the web:

• Simple dragon puppet from Red Ted's Art Blog
• These simple banners (no original link--just a photo). Sorry, I love anything with crepe paper streamers!
• Thumbprint Lanterns from Let's Go Fly a Kite (you gotta look at this one--so cool!)
• Chinese Dragon Puppets from Olive Art!! Do You???
• Fingerprint Cherry Blossom Lantern (with FREE Printable) from Imagination Box

And a recipes to enjoy:

Rainbow Chicken Fried Rice

Resources I've used:

• "China: DK Eyewitness Books," by Poppy Sebag-Montefiore (A nice overview of China and Chinese culture. The book has some clear, beautiful images of calligraphy, writing, and dragon costumes).

• "Gung Hay Fat Choy," by June Behrens (This is a great nonfiction book that has lots of pictures and info about Chinese New Year. I love the pictures of the dragons used in the Dragon Dance).

• "Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats," by Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz & The Children's Museum, Boston (A wonderful book of Chinese holiday tales, activities and recipes).

• "The Boy Who Painted Dragons,"by Demi (All of Demi's books are beautiful! This artist has been known to paint with a mouse's whisker! She's also created books on Mother Theresa, Mary and Jesus).

• "The Kid's Multicultural Art Book," by Alexandra M. Terzian (This is a great go-to book for a number of crafts from around the world. A must for an art teacher's personal collection. I love the whole series of art books for children by this publisher).

• "The Paper Dragon," by Marguerite W. Davol (LOVE this book! And artist saves his village from a dragon by using creativity and intelligence. A great book!)

• "You Can Write Chinese," by Kurt Wiese (A bit dated, but the way the information about Chinese symbols is presented is wonderful and very kid-friendly).

• A China Family Adventure. http://www.china-family-adventure.com/chinese-writing-symbols.html (Accessed January 2012) This site has a section entitled, "Learning Chinese Writing Symbols for Kids" that has some wonderful, clear images of chinese calligraphy and a nice chart that shows the evolution of a few Chinese characters (this is where you will see that the original Chinese character for rain looks like rain falling from a cloud)

• Chinese Calligraphy By Kids. http://library.thinkquest.org/3614/intro.htm (Accessed January 2012) A wonderful website by two elementary girls that is very child-friendly and has a ton of wonderful information about Chinese calligraphy, great picture examples and explanation of some symbols and the combination of symbols. Lovely!

Easy Paper Lanterns

Here's an easy way to decorate for your Chinese New Year Celebration! These paper lanterns take two sheets of paper, some cutting and stapling and you're done! Make a few to hang around your dining room for January 23rd, Chinese New Year 2012! 

Supplies Needed:

• 1 9" x 12" sheet construction paper, yellow
• 1 9" x 12" sheet construction paper, red (red is the color of joy)
• 1 1" strip of paper for handle, any color
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Stapler

Directions:

1. Beginning with a short side of the yellow paper, roll up the paper to make a tube that is roughly 3" in diameter. Secure with a couple of staples (or you could use glue stick or tape).

2. Fold the red piece of paper in half lengthwise (like a hot dog bun). Use the ruler to draw a 1" line along the long edge that is not the folded edge. Use the scissors to make a series of cuts from the folded edge stopping at the pencil line you made. These cuts should be spaced about 1/2" apart. Make sure that you begin the cuts at the folded end and stop at your line that is 1" from the opposite edge.

3. Unfold the red piece of paper. Wrap the red piece of paper around the yellow tube about 1" down from the top. Secure the red paper to the tube using a couple of staples. Do the same by wrapping and securing the red paper about 1" up from the bottom of the yellow tube. That will make the red paper bow out and create the effect of a lantern with glowing yellow light within.

4. Secure a 1" paper strip to the top of the lantern. 

You are done! These look pretty hanging from the ceiling or lined up along the center of the table.