Chinese New Year Paper Bag Lion Masks (And a book list!)

One of the nicest things about having kids is seeing things through their eyes.  I remember loving Chinese New Year as a child.  The lion dance, the dragons, the red envelopes, the yummy food, the time spent with family... those are all the traditions and memories that I'd like to pass onto my sons as well.  Recently we've been knee deep in Chinese New Year Crafts and today's is my son's favorite so far.  We turned paper bags into our very own lion masks to wear and dance around in!

Paper Bag Lion Masks for Chinese New Year!       

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Our Favorite Chinese New Year Books

I love this craft because it was affordable to make and gave my son a really tangible way to celebrate his cultural heritage.  Prior to making the craft, we had already been reading books explaining the holiday.  Here are some of our favorites!

• The Runaway Wok
• Bringing In the New Year
• My First Chinese New Year
• Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year
• Celebrating Chinese New Year

Let's Make Chinese New Year Paper Bag Lion Masks:

First, I sketched two lion faces onto the paper bags.  I also shortened the back and side portions of the paper bags so that they would fit properly over our heads.  Then, I traced over my sketches with Sharpie Markers.

After that, we grabbed our tempera paint and got painting!

Once the paint dried, we cut out openings for our eyes.   (When designing the masks, I tried to imagine where the eye openings would be and then draw around those.)

Now we've been watching a LOT of YouTube lion dance videos and we're practicing our own moves for the holiday!  Hope you have a fun time making this very easy and fun Chinese New Year Craft with your kiddos too!

More Chinese New Year Crafts:

If you liked this craft, then definitely check out my other Chinese New Year Kids Crafts here!

  

Let's Keep in Contact!

You can always find more fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram accounts!

Happy making!