Chinese New Year 8th February - 12th February 2021

The Year of the Ox

How to Make

1. Take a large paper plate and cover it in a coat of brown paint. Leave to dry and add another coat of paint if needed.
2. Once the paint is dry, measure roughly halfway down the edge of the plate and trim the lower side section off. Repeat with the other side of the plate to make it the shape of an Ox's face.
3. Take the two edges of the plate that you cut off in the previous step and cut two ear shapes out of them.
4. Hold the plate over your face and make note of where your eyes are, then lower the plate and use scissors to cut out the eye shapes.
5. Use double sided tape to stick the two ears to the back of the top of the mask. Then take a sheet of light paper and cut two horn shapes out of it and stick them to the mask just above the ears.
6. Take a sheet of light brown paper and cut a large oval out of it, making sure it is wider than the bottom section of the ox's face. Use a black pen to draw two nostrils onto the oval shape and then stick it to the bottom section of the paper plate.
7. Carefully cut a small hole either side of the mask, then thread a piece of black elastic through the holes and tie each end with a double knot.

Top Tip

Measure the elastic around your head before attaching it to the mask to make sure it will fit.

Paint a blossom tree.

Make a model dragon - you could use cardboard tubes and boxes, playdough, construction toys or natural materials like leaves and pebbles. Maybe you could draw a picture or take a photo of your dragon model!

During Chinese New Year celebrations, children are sometimes given envelopes with money inside! With an adult, look at some coins and see if you can see any numbers on them. What numbers can you see? What shape are the coins? What colours are they?