Watercolor Lanterns for Chinese New Year

The Lunar New year has so many great themes. And the lanterns are part of that theme.

This is a simple watercolor and oil pastel project for kids to do. This can be a very flexible art project for kids.

The lanterns take very little prep time and are super fun for kids of many different ages.

We have included links to some of the products and resources we have used with this activity. If you purchase via the links we may earn a small commission.

This is a fun mix art project for kids to try. You can make this lantern with a few simple steps and have fun while doing it.

This is a great project for the Lunar New Year. it is a simple lantern made with watercolors and oil pastels. It is a mix art project that cane be used with kids of different ages.

A great book to read with this project is Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Chinese New Year: With Fireworks, Dragons, and Lanterns.

What you need to make your Watercolor Lantern

• watercolor paper
• watercolors
• black and red oil pastels
• circle template – we used a plate
• large paint brush
• pencil

How we made the Watercolor Lantern

You will find all the steps that we used to make the lantern below.

Circle Template for the Lantern

We used a plate to draw a circle on the watercolor paper. You have to find one that is big enough for fill most of the paper.

If you have older kids have them do the trace of the circle.

Trace the Circle for the Lantern with Black Oil Pastel

YOu have kids trace the circle on the paper with black oil pastel. This does not need to be prefect just so that the whole circle has black around it. You could also use red instead of the black.

Draw the lines on the Lantern

This is a great way for kids to work on matching lines from one side to another. For younger kids they can just draw lines. These don’t have to be perfect.

For older kids, you can have them try and do curved lines on the lantern.

If you know the character that people put on the lanterns you can draw those on at this time.

Paint the Lantern With Water

One reason to use watercolor paper is that you can put water on the paper and then use the watercolor paints in water. It makes a fun area. You want to make sure you cover the whole lantern in water.

If you have younger kids you could just skip this step and move on to the next one.

Paint the Lantern With Watercolors

Not paint the lantern with a red color. But kids could do this any color they want. You can paint the area any way you want.

We did lines up and down to try and match the lines we made on the lanterns.

Draw to the top of the Lantern

You can draw the top of the lantern. We did this after we painted and we wish we would have done it before. We will do it before the next time.

Draw the Decoration at the Bottom of the Lantern

And finally, we drew the lines to make the fringe at the bottom of the lantern. You can be as creative as you want at the bottom. Let kids decide how they want it to look.

Final look at our Lanterns for the Lunar New Year

Check out these other Chinese New Year Printables & Activities for kids

Lunar New Year Lantern Wreath Craft is a fun craft that you can make with kids. You have several fun lanterns around the wreath.

Lunar New Year Sensory Bin is a simple sensory bin with rice, red rocks, gold rocks and coins for the Lunar New Year. An easy way for kids have a fun sensory activity for the Lunar New Year.

No-Prep Chinese New Year Weekly Packs has weekly packs with a Chinese new year theme. They have PreK, Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, and Fourth Grade. You will find 4 pages of printables for each day. They have a mix of math and language activities.

Chinese New Year Letter Easy Reader Book has 8 pages with beginning sound of themes from the Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year Dot the Number & Count: Lantern is a great counting printable with dot marker numbers and dot marker counting on a lantern in color and black and white.

Chinese New Year Zodiac Animals Easy Reader Book is a simple book with the animals from the Chinese Zodiac with tracing for the animal name in the book.

Chinese New Year Addition Puzzles are a great hands-on addition printable you can use with kids.

Check out all the fun Lunar New Year Printables & Activities on 3 Dinosaurs.

Cassie – 3Dinosaurs.com