One fun way to celebrate Chinese New Year with children is with a fun craft. Today we are sharing how to make this awesome cupcake liner dragon craft that makes a perfect Chinese New Year activity for kids. You could also use it as an alphabet craft for the letter D. Young ones might need a little assistance but it is a fun craft that kids of varying ages will all enjoy. Find some Chinese New Year book recommendations at the bottom of this post.
How to Make a Cupcake Liner Dragon Craft
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Supplies:
- black cardstock
- mini cupcake liners (We used red, orange and blue but you can use any colors you want to.)
- googly eyes
- gold and white cardstock
- red yarn
- orange and yellow tissue paper
- red marker
- scissors
- glue
More fun ways to craft with Cupcake Liners → Cupcake Liner Crafts from A to Z
Watch the full tutorial of us making this cupcake liner dragon craft before you get started. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss a new video!
Cupcake Liner Dragon Craft Instructions:
1. Begin by cutting about eight mini cupcake liners in half. Glue one of the cupcake liner halves onto your black cardstock paper, towards the top with the round curve pointed at the left of the page. This is the start of your dragon body. Continue gluing and layering the cupcake liners halves down your page to form your dragon body. You can add a curve in your dragon of leave it straight down the page, it’s up to you.
2. Now make your dragon head. You’ll need two cupcake liners. Cut one of them in half (discard the other half) and fold the other liner in half. Cut the sides off of both of these pieces (see picture below). Glue the two pieces together to make a dragon head making sure the folded section opens and closes at the bottom of the face.
3. Glue your dragon head onto the front of your dragon body. Cut horns from your gold cardstock and glue them onto your dragon. Cut out white teeth and glue them on the inside of the dragon mouth.
4. Cut out a few small pieces of orange and yellow tissue paper and glue them onto the inside of your dragon mouth. Crinkle the ends of the tissue a little to look like fire coming out of the dragon’s mouth. Add a bit of glue on top of the tissue paper and glue the dragons mouth shut.
5. Finish your cupcake liner dragon craft by drawing nostrils on your dragon with a red marker and then glue two short strands of red yarn coming off of the dragon face like long whiskers.
Chinese New Year Books for Kids:
– Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin
– The Dancing Dragon by Marcia K. Vaughan
– Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes by Nina Simonds
– The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac by Dawn Casey
I made these for Chinese New Year. By accident I bought regular size cupcake holders so I used 11 x 17 paper. I hung them in the middle of my room on a wire. I can’t tell you how many compliments I got on these. I will definitely by making them again next year!