Chinese New Year is the perfect time to bring culture, language, creativity, and joy together in your classroom. Instead of memorizing vocabulary lists or doing the “same old” cultural activities, these seven creative lesson ideas invite students to explore, design, perform, collaborate, and think deeply about tradition and meaning.

This hands-on Chinese Zodiac worksheet invites students to explore the 12 zodiac animals through storytelling, creativity, and choice. After learning about the animals and the legend of the Great Race, students cut out the zodiac animals and use them to design their own version of the story.

This Year of the Horse craft hat is a fun, hands-on way for students to connect language, culture, and creativity during Chinese New Year. Students create and wear their own horse hat while learning about the Zodiac, the meaning of the Horse, and key Chinese New Year symbols.

These Chinese New Year Task Cards turn cultural learning into hands-on, student-driven action. Designed for flexible classroom use, each task invites students to learn by creating and sharing with others.

Lesson 1 launches the Chinese New Year unit with curiosity first. Instead of starting with explanations, students begin by noticing and wondering.

The lesson opens with rich Chinese New Year photos. Students are invited to observe carefully and share what they see using the simple sentence starter:

我看到……
I see…

This Mini-Inquiry lesson plan invites students to explore Chinese New Year through curiosity, conversation, and collaboration. Using engaging photos as a provocation, students observe, notice, and ask questions about Chinese New Year customs, food, symbols, and celebrations.

Chinese Character Writing Worksheets – 福 & 马

These focused Chinese character writing worksheets help students practise two meaningful characters: 福 (good fortune) and 马 (horse). Perfect for Chinese New Year and cultural lessons, the sheets guide learners through stroke order, tracing, and independent writing to build confidence and accuracy.

This ready-to-use Chinese New Year (CNY) presentation is designed for teachers to show directly to students. It introduces the key ideas of Chinese New Year in a clear, engaging, and age-appropriate way - perfect for whole-class learning across K–8.

Make character writing meaningful and fun with our Year of the Horse (马) writing sheets. Designed for beginners through intermediate learners, these sheets go beyond stroke order to build confidence, recognition, and cultural connection.