Celebrating Lunar New Year with Kids
Happy Friday!
Lunar New Year started on Tuesday February 1st to celebrate the first new moon of the year. Asian people all across the globe celebrate it every year with parades, fireworks, spending time with loved ones, paying respect to their ancestors, and decorating with bright reds. This year is the Year of the Tiger, indicating courage, and strength. Celebrations can last up to 15 days and vary from country to country.
If you are still looking for ways to teach your families about Lunar New Year through art, music, and storytelling, I would love to share activities by some my favorite Asian creators and platforms.
Miss Katie Sings is a Chinese-American songwriter, film maker, and music teacher who uses music “to promote social-emotional learning, tenderness, creativity, and justice.”
Nian the Dragon is a song she wrote to tell the Chinese folk legend of a dragon who scared a village every New Years Eve, until a wise old man devised a plan to scare him away. You can find the song and accompanying music video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADNyrLPwphE or on her social media (@MissKatieSings).
Chinese Dumpling Song is a children’s song that Miss Katie grew up singing! It describes the process of making dumplings (frying eggs, chopping carrots, wrapping dumplings) and comes with a finger play. You can find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R8pmh8I6FU&t=57s.
Grace Lin is a Chinese-American children’s book author and illustrator and Winner of the 2022 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She writes books for infants through middle grade readers and publishes drawing tutorials on YouTube. You can find her tutorial for a tiger at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTZ-QoBTFgo&t=438s (and other Chinese zodiac animals).
Mrs. Kim’s Building Blocks is a Korean-American early childhood teacher who provides resources on literacy and social-emotional learning. Her reading of New Clothes for New Years Day can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nidri-TLlc. She also has other virtual read-alongs, literacy lessons, and art lessons.
New Clothes for New Years Day is about Korean Lunar New Year preparations and celebrations and was written by Hyun-Joo Bae.
Lily’s Journey is a YouTube channel featuring a 6-year old Vietnamese American girl providing story times and language lessons in English, Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese. Her reading of This is Tết can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVh4GHl1_1A&t=3s. Tết, a shortening of Tết Nguyên Đán, is the Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival celebrating “Festival of the First Morning of the First Day.”
This is Tết is a story about a young girl experiencing Tết in her parents hometown for the first time. It was written by Bui Phong Tam.
If you have other favorite Asian or Pacific Islander creators or Lunar New Year celebrations, we would love to hear about them! Happy learning!