How to Make a Chinese Dragon Puppet

Chinese dragon puppets are delightful dancing dragons that are the highlight of the Chinese New Year. Unfortunately they are also huge and take weeks to create. Here is a smaller, easier-to-make version that will fit more comfortably in your house and can be completed in under an hour.

Things You'll Need

• Red card, about 9x7 inches
• Gold card, about 9x7 inches
• Glue or tape
• Two plastic straws
• Pencil
• Crayons and glitter glue

Instructions

1. Fold a sheet of red card lengthways, and cut along the crease.

2. Make a fold about a 1/4 inch deep at the short end of both rectangles. Accordion fold the entire length of the paper until the rectangles look like, well, accordions.

3. Glue or tape the short end of one of the folded red cards, and attach the other to make one long card. This will be the dragon puppet's body.

4. Draw the head and tail of a dragon on the gold card, and cut out.

5. Decorate the head and tail of the Chinese dragon puppet with glitter and crayons.

6. Attach the red card to the dragon's head with glue or tape and attach the dragon's tail to the other end of the red card.

7. Fasten one straw to the back of the dragon's head and one to the tail using glue or tape.The straws will be used to control the dragon. Your Chinese dragon puppet is now finished and ready to lead the parade.

Tips & Warnings

• Attach bells and noisemakers to make the puppet dragon even more like the ones in the Chinese New Year parades.