Happy Chinese New Year!

While the Chinese New Year was celebrated over a week ago, on February 10th, my kiddos needed some extra time to get their dragon puppets put together! My darling fourth graders execute the following steps to complete their fierce projects.

Fold a 12 x 18" sheet of fadeless paper (the type that's white on one side)

into thirds, then accordion style:

Glue and tape the accordion, as well as popsicle sticks, to the wrong side of a head and tail:

Add tissue paper if desired--NO, NOT tissues, tissue PAPER (oh dear heavens, child):

Make a huge, colorful mess (hmm, you're very good at this, I see):

Glue the other head and tail on top, sandwiching all that tape and glue on the inside:

Add some staples for extra durability before trimming off any overhang:

Step back and admire your beautiful Chinese New Year Dragon Puppet!

When possible, I walked my kiddos back to class a few minutes early so they could parade their dragons around the hallways. (One year, I played some Chinese music to go along with our mini parade--this year's fourth grade group couldn't handle that, womp womp.)

Did you celebrate Chinese New Year? My husband and I spent that Sunday evening with our best friends, whose beautiful baby boy celebrated by taking a few first steps--while his parents and friends ate Chinese takeout, of course.