Create a Chinese Dragon Kids Craft or ArtPrint using your child’s hands and feet while you teach them about the Chinese New Year and the dragon.
Classified: Easy and can be done with little help by a preschool-aged child and up. If you want to make this into a lesson for older children, simply have them design and carve a dragon’s head from Styrofoam plates as I did when I taught art. They can also add details, such as the dragon’s beard, with yarn.
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I made this as a third-grade lesson and taught them about Chinese Culture and included texture as one of the elements of art. Since my children are younger, we decided to print our hands and feet to make this into a keepsake.
What you need:
- Assorted acrylic paint.
- Paintbrushes
- White Paper
- Egg carton
- Scissors
- Glue
- Optional: Bubble wrap, styrofoam plate, yarn for more advanced children or students
What to do:
- Prep: cut out an egg holder from an empty egg carton. Cut in quarters. Cut 2 triangles out of 2 pieces to make the dragon’s mouth. See photo below, for example, Optional Prep: Cut a snake-like body out of the bubble wrap:
- Paint (or have your child paint) her foot green and stamp onto a white piece of paper. Paint (or have your child paint) both of her hands (we used red and yellow) and print on either side of the footprint. Allow drying.
- Paint the egg carton mouth green and white for teeth. Dry then glue to the center of the footprint (or dragon’s face- optional for advanced students).
- Have your preschooler creatively paint on eyes and add details to the face.
- Optional: have your preschooler use the pre-cut bubble wrap to print the dragon’s body to make the dragon appear to have scales and paint on legs with paint. Cut out and attach the head.
Want more art and craft ideas? Check out my arts and crafts page here!
