Monday, January 23rd, 2012, marks the Chinese New Year.  4709 is the year of the dragon and in celebration of the holiday our eco-friendly craft for kids this week is for a Chinese New Year egg carton dragon. We previously posted a Chinese New Year Lantern eco-friendly craft and it was actually one of our top 5 most popular eco-friendly crafts in 2011.  So if you’re feeling extra festive, you can create the Chinese New Year lanterns and the simple egg carton dragon we’re featuring today and easily decorate your home for the holiday.

Now, let’s make your egg cartons reusable through a little creativity with this easy Chinese New Year egg carton dragon craft. This eco-friendly craft comes courtesy of activityvillage.co.uk.  Let’s get crafting.

Supplies you will need:

• 2 egg cartons
• Paint
• Coloured paper
• Glue
• Tissue paper
• Pens
• Stapler
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. Paint the egg boxes in brightly coloured paint. When the paint is dry, cut out two of the egg compartments from one of the boxes and glue these to the lid of the other egg box the form the eyes.

2. Cut a mane, eyes, nose, mouth and other decorations from coloured paper. Glue these on to your dragon’s head.

3. Draw some scales on the tissue paper.

4. Finally, staple the tissue paper to the back of the head to form the tail of your dragon.

Eco-friendly crafts for kids are a great opportunity to entertain the kids and teach them to create something playful with common household items like egg cartons, which would get recycled if not reused.  Plus, the dragons are symbolic and fun for the kids enjoying Chinese New Year.  This requires the use of scissors, glue and stapling so parental or adult supervision is recommended.  Making a craft like this is a great way to celebrate Chinese New Year. Gung Hay Fat Choy!
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