Chinese New Year Dragon Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers with Free Template

For this lunar year, why not celebrate Chinese New Year with a fun dragon craft for little ones!

Chinese New Year is an exciting holiday filled with red and gold decorations, family reunions, fireworks, delicious food, and lively dragon and lion dances. It’s a wonderful opportunity for children to learn about Chinese culture, explore new traditions, and get creative at the same time.

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This Chinese dragon craft is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers (with grown-up help). It encourages fine motor skills, creativity, and new vocabulary whilst learning about this colourful festival.

So if you are ready to get started here is what you will need for this Chinese dragon craft:

Step 1: Prepare your Dragon Pieces

Print and cut out the dragon template (download below), then draw around it onto coloured card. ✂️ An adult can help cut out the dragon heads ready for decorating.

Step 2: Attach the Handles

Help your child stick a lollipop stick to the back of each dragon head using sticky tape. Older preschoolers might enjoy doing this themselves.

Step 3: Add the Dragon’s Eyes and Stickers

Stick on wiggly eyes and stickers to give your dragon some character and expression.

Step 4: Make Fluffy Eyebrows

Pop a little glue above each eye and help your child press on a small piece of cotton wool for soft, fluffy dragon eyebrows.

Step 5: Add the Dragon’s Tail

Cut three long strips of crepe paper and help your child glue them to the back of the dragon’s head. These flutter beautifully when waved around!

Turn your dragon around and admire your creation. Watch your child wave their dragon through the air, just like in a real dragon dance!

We took this craft to our local toddler group to share and it was a huge success with the children and adults too! The below is how ours turned out. In the group we used tissue paper instead of crepe paper, which is a great alternative and added the use of felt tip pens.

My two year old (34 months) created the blue and red dragon, my one year old (21 months) created the yellow dragon. Both with my supervision and help. They have been playing with their dragons and talking about them ever since, which is fantastic.

If you’d like to mix things up, try these variations:

• Swap materials: Use tissue paper instead of crepe paper for a softer, floatier tail.
• Add colour: Let children decorate with felt-tip pens or crayons for extra creativity.
• Make a group activity: This craft works brilliantly for preschool groups or playdates, especially around Chinese New Year.

I hope you and your little ones enjoy making these cheerful Chinese dragons as much as we did! It’s such a fun way to celebrate Chinese New Year whilst encouraging creativity, colour, and imagination.

Love this idea? Save it to Pinterest so you can find it again later!

I’d love to see your creations! Share your Chinese dragons in the comments or tag Craft with Mei on social media.

For more crafts for little hands, see my collection of easy children craft ideas perfect for toddlers and preschoolers all year round.

Happy Chinese Dragon making! 🐲✨

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