Chinese New Year Celebrations and Activities

Year of the Horse

Horse year

image from: freepick.com

Year 4723... or is it 4724? on the Chinese Calendar (there seems to be conflicting information!)
(2026 on the Western Calendar)

Here is a quote from: https://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/ChineseNewYear/

The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China) in 2697 B.C.

What is the animal sign for Chinese New Year 2026? 2026 is the year of the Red Fire Horse. 2026 Chinese New Year Day is on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, in the China time zone. The Chinese New Year's Eve is on Monday, February 16, 2026. They are national holidays in China. Usually, the New Year holiday is at least five days long from Chinese New Year's eve. Plus Saturday and Sunday, the legal holiday could expand to seven days long.

How old is China? What is the lunar new year 2026? China will be 4723 years old on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. This is because that the Yellow King, the first king of China, was inaugurated in 2697 B.C.

The first day of Chinese Spring is on February 4, 2026. This date is called Li-Chun 立春, which means the start of Spring. Chinese New Year Day usually is around the first day of Spring. Therefore the Chinese New Year holiday is also called Spring Festival 春節. Chinese New Year Day is the new moon date of the first lunar month. It's from the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The first day of spring is the first day of Tiger month. This date is the first day of the Chinese Astrological Year. This is from the Chinese Astrology Calendar, which is the calendar of Chinese Zodiac Signs. 2026 is the year of the Red Horse.



http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/

Learning About the Chinese New Year

Mr. Donn's Lesson Links - lots of them!
http://holidays.mrdonn.org/chinesefestivals.html#new
but I like the "old version" from the WayBack Machine!
http://web.archive.org/web/20080303235007/http://holidays.mrdonn.org/chinesefestivals.html#lantern   

  Chinese New Year Information
Saved webpage from the Wayback Machine
https://web.archive.org/web/20180123071445/http://web.uvic.ca:80/~mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_new_year.html

Chinese Calendar Home Page
http://www.cnd.org/Other/calendar.html
VIDEO: History Channel- Bet You Didn't Know: Chinese New Year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asluM20g6rk&feature=youtu.be

National Geographic - Kids: Learn about Zodiac Animals
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/chinese-horoscopes/

 

Lesson Plans for China / Chinese New Year

Ancient China for Kids
(LOTS of great information but watch out that you don't click on all those advertisements!)
http://china.mrdonn.org/
Chinese New Year lessons - see above "Mr. Donn's Lesson Links"
A to Z Kids Stuff about China
http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/china.html
Chinese New Year Activities for the Classroom
https://shannonmareeteaching.com/chinese-new-year-activities/

Chinese New Year and Year of the Horse: Information and Resources
https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese-new-year

OH DEAR, seems the USA National Endowment for the Humanities has decided to DELETE these resources!
I wonder why!!!
K to 5 Lesson Plan: Lions, Dragons, and Nian: Animals of the Chinese New Year
(This has links to various resources.)
https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/lions-dragons-and-nian-animals-chinese-new-year
https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/animals-chinese-zodiac

 

Resources from Scholastic.com

Chinese Inventions and Lunar New Year
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/unit-plans/teaching-content/chinese-inventions-and-chinese-new-year/

Lucky Money Envelope template (very basic!)
https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/lesson-plans/migrated-featured-files/lessonplans_pdf_dec05_unit_money.pdf

How to Use Chopsticks
https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/lesson-plans/migrated-featured-files/lessonplans_pdf_dec05_unit_chopstick.pdf

Chinese New Year Activities
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/chinese-new-year-activity-ideas/

 

 

Chinese Stories

A HUGE thank you to my dear friend and colleague, Lisa F.,
for sending along these wonderful links!

You can listen on "Youtube" or "Schooltube".
Teacher Guides are available as well!
Please consider making a donation to SAG-AFTRA Foundation
so that they can create more Storyline Online videos!



https://storylineonline.net/books/the-empty-pot/

The Empty Pot

The Chinese Emperor announces an unusual test to choose an heir—the child who raises the best flowers from a seed given by the Emperor will be his successor. Ping, unaccountably, is unable to get his seed to sprout—but Ping’s empty pot is best of all.



Written and Illustrated by: Demi
Published by: Square Fish
Read by: Rami Malek
Suggested grade level: 1st - 2nd
Run time: 8 minutes

 

https://storylineonline.net/books/lotus-and-feather/

Lotus & Feather
A winter illness left Lotus, a little girl, without a voice and without friends. A hunter’s bullet left Feather, a crane, injured and unable to fly. As Lotus nurses Feather back to health, their bond grows. Soon Feather is following Lotus everywhere, even to school! The bird dances to the girl’s reed whistle, much to the delight of the other children. One day, when the village floods, Feather helps raise the alarm as Lotus and her grandfather urge their neighbors to get to high ground. Feather is a true friend to Lotus, but the time comes when Lotus must be a true friend to him--by encouraging him to migrate with the rest of the cranes. The next spring, Feather miraculously returns, and that’s not all . . . he has brought new life to the nearby lake. Inspired by the true story of a crane that rescued a Chinese village, and graced with sensitive watercolor illustrations, this lovely book about respecting nature offers deep emotion and delightful surprises.

 

Written by: Ji-li Jiang
Illustrated by: Julie Downing
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Read by: Michelle Yeoh
Suggested grade level: 2nd - 3rd
Run time: 13 minutes

 

Chinese Stories and Writing Activities
Lesson - comparison of Red Riding Hood and Lon Po Po
via the Wayback Machine!
https://web.archive.org/web/20090109104601/http://www.uvm.edu/~outreach/units/LonPoPo.pdf

 

Dragon Art & Drawing Activities

How to Draw a Chinese Dragon
http://www.wikihow.com/Draw-a-Chinese-Dragon

 

Other Chinese New Year Activities
Visit Vancouver's Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden online
http://vancouverchinesegarden.com/

Find your Chinese Zodiac Animal... and your other signs too.
http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/YourSign.htm
The history of Chinese Tangram Puzzles
https://chinesepuzzles.org/tangram-puzzle/
Online Tangram activity
https://freegames.org/tangrams/

China Adventure: a site for Kids and Parents
Saved webpage from the Wayback Machine
(It can be a bit slow to load, but is worth the wait! It has many resources)
https://web.archive.org/web/20191115060254/https://www.china-family-adventure.com/chinese-culture.html
Printable clipart, maps, activities: China (abcteach has a small free resource section)
https://www.abcteach.com/search/China

Chinese New Year Activities and Fun Ideas for Kids
https://www.childfun.com/holidays/winter/chinese-new-year/



https://www.bcfieldtrips.ca/users/dr-sun-yat-sen-garden


Crossing Borders, Removing Barriers (Online resource) by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

 

Framing Views by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

Exploring Chinese Symbols: Bats by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

This one might not be accessible to the public.
Chinatown Existing by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, Chinese Canadian Museum, UBC

Return to Winter Links

 

This page created January 2001
newest update at top.