As we always do to mark the holidays, and seasons, we made a gorgeous Chinese New Year Slime as well as learning about some of the popular traditions, symbols, festivities, and origins of this festive occasion. I love learning a bit about how other cultures celebrate different times of the year. As my son gets older, he is also more interested to learn about holidays around the world.
MAKE CHINESE NEW YEAR SLIME WITH KIDS
CHINESE NEW YEAR
Although we are surrounded by snow here and just celebrated a frosty new year, the Chinese New Year is a spring festival. We learned that the holiday is tied in to the lunar-solar calendar too. This year we also took a look at what the summer and winter solstices were all about too.
ALSO CHECK OUT: New Years Eve Party Ideas For Kids
We also learned about the importance of the color red for the Chinese New Year! It’s associated with luck, good fortune, and warding off the evil spirits that the holiday originated from. Red is also the color of fire and loud sounds that helped ward off evil spirits.
So we decided that we would make a fiery red slime with sparkling gold sequins. The gold sequins represent wealth and good fortune which is also an important part of the Chinese New Year and the tradition of the red envelopes filled with money.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Chinese Dragon Puppet Craft and Dragon STEM Challenge.
We also learned that there are several important Chinese characters associated with the Chinese New Year including wealth, longevity, happiness, and good fortune. So we decided to check out what these characters looked like as well as a few others.
I made a simple printable you can download that shows these characters and a few more plus some tradition symbols that go along with the Chinese New Year including lanterns, firecrackers, and the dragon.
Gorgeous Fiery Red Chinese New Years Slime with Sparkling Gold Confetti
CHINESE SLIME
My kid loves to make slime. It’s super stretchy and such cool science. Make sure to check out the science behind our homemade slime recipe. It’s great for young kids, but also works for the older kids too. This colorful red slime is the perfect Chinese New Year kids activity.
CHINESE NEW YEAR SLIME RECIPE
Make sure to wash hands thoroughly after playing with slime. If your slime gets a little messy, it does happen, check out my tips for how to get slime out of clothes and hair!
SUPPLIES:
- 1/2 Cup of Washable PVA Clear Glue
- 1/4-1/2 Cup of Liquid Starch
- 1/2 Cup of Water
- Red Food Coloring
- Gold Sequins
- Gold Glitter
HOW TO MAKE CHINESE NEW YEAR SLIME
STEP 1: In a bowl add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup glue and mix well to combine completely.
STEP 2: Now’s the time to add the red food coloring, glitter, and/or confetti! Stir well.
STEP 3: Pour in 1/4 cup of liquid starch and stir well.
You will see the slime immediately start to form and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Keep stirring until you have a gooey blob of slime. The liquid should be gone!
STEP 4: Start kneading your slime! It will appear stringy at first but just work it around with your hands and you will notice the consistency change.
SLIME MAKING TIP: The trick with liquid starch slime is to put a few drops of the liquid starch onto your hands before picking up the slime. However, keep in mind that although adding more liquid starch reduces the stickiness, and it will eventually create a stiffer slime.
START TO FINISH MAKING SLIME TAKES LESS THAN 5 MINUTES!
Plus there’s so much more to check out for the Chinese New Year, and we definitely spent some time researching what it’s all about from the fire works, to the lion dance, and lanterns.
CHINESE NEW YEAR VIDEO FOR KIDS
We checked out this short video and learned a little bit about how the Chinese New Year evolved and the origin of it. There are quite a few traditions that have been carried over through the years, but we definitely have celebrating with family in common.
MORE FUN CHINESE NEW YEAR ACTIVITIES TO TRY
You can also make this tradition Hong Bao or red envelope that is given out to the kids. These envelopes are filled with money symbolizing good fortune and wealth in the new year.
Make sure to check out this interactive and printable notebook for kids to use while learning about the Chinese New Year. It features map, culture, traditions, food, and more to learn about.
Another big part of the Chinese New Year is being with family and feasting. Chinese families will often make dumplings. We might have to try out some traditional Chinese New Years food this year too.
CELEBRATE CHINESE NEW YEAR WITH SLIME MAKING!
Love making slime? Check out our most popular and easy to make slime recipes!
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