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Playdough inspired by Chinese New Year

January 21, 2016 by Kate 12 Comments

Chinese New Year is on February 8th this year and can go for as long as 15 days. Many families will be celebrating in various ways, but large feasts of food and exchanging money in red envelopes are a common tradition. As an activity for kids to enjoy we made some playdough inspired by Chinese New Year.  
Chinese New Year red playdough

Possum (aged 4 years) has always shown quite an interest in Chinese culture and traditions. I know, strange for a  four year old, right! She loves pointing out Chinese writing when we are walking down the street and can’t get enough of Chinese dragons. 

Play Dough Ebook with recipe and play ideas

When I told her Chinese New Year was coming up she was really keen to learn more about what that meant and how she could celebrate too. I was planning on making some play dough that day and so colouring it bright red and including a few gold coins seemed like an easy start. This became very similar to the gorgeous spiced playdough found on NurtureStore.

Recommended age: 3 years + 
(Strict and active supervision always required) 
making playdough for Chinese New Year

To make this playdough inspired by Chinese New Year I used my basic playdough recipe for this and had Possum involved in everything but pouring and mixing the boiling water.

It really is so surprising what young children can do when given the opportunity. Sometimes it’s so tempting to take over, but unless I think it won’t be safe, I’m making a conscious effort to not take over and give Possum more freedom to do the tasks she is capable of doing independently. 
rolling red playdough

Now to play! 🙂 

Importance of RED colouring

I added a good splash of red food colouring to our basic playdough recipe. I wanted that wonderful vibrant red colour that the Chinese associate with bringing ‘happiness and good fortune’. 

DSC03879I found these really cool gold treasure coins at my local discount store. They became a great addition to Possum’s play experience and she used them in ways that I hadn’t thought of. 

chinese new year gold coins

Quite naturally, Possum began pushing the coins into the lovely soft playdough. Of course there was the challenge to find the coins once they were all buried into the dough. She also loved sitting them up in long lines and counting them. Because the coins had different faces she also enjoyed making simple alternating patterns. 

playing with gold coins and red playdough

Interestingly Possum had a great time adding playdough between two coins, squishing them and discarding the playdough that oozed from the sides. She then used these playdough coins in a buying and selling game. 
FB inspired Chinese New Year playdough

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, your child might enjoying play with this brightly coloured playdough. It brought about some great discussions about the significance of the colour red and importance of other Chinese traditions. 

What traditions do you enjoy celebrating? 

Simple play dough ebook with recipes and play dough activities for kids.

More wonderful ideas for you – 

     Decorating Fans craft for Chinese New Year   Header Cherry Blossom  Chinese fortune cookies with notes of encouragement for kids

Great value ebooks featuring Laughing Kids Learn

Zero to Two: Book of Play    Three to Five Playful Preschool ad     

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Filed Under: 1 - 3 years, 3 - 5 years, 5 - 10 years, activities for children, activities for preschoolers, activities for toddlers, Celebrate, Playdough Tagged With: chinese new year, colours, playdough, traditions

Comments

  1. Neha Ahmed says

    January 25, 2016 at 4:44 pm

    thats so adorable, i really like the dough recipe. i tried it once, amazing results
    keep up the good work

    Reply
    • Kate says

      January 26, 2016 at 4:23 pm

      Thank you kindly.

      Reply
  2. Lucy @ Bake Play Smile says

    January 25, 2016 at 7:44 pm

    I LOVE this!! You really can’t go wrong with a batch of playdough can you!? Those coins are a great little find too!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      January 26, 2016 at 4:23 pm

      You’re totally right, Lucy! We love playdough.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Chinese fortune cookies with notes of encouragement for kids - Laughing Kids Learn says:
    February 6, 2016 at 9:36 am

    […] (aged 4 years) interest in Chinese New Year. She has played with our  awesome Chinese New Year playdough and made super cool Chinese dragons. For something extra I found some fortune cookies in the […]

    Reply
  2. Chinese New Year Sensory Ideas and Crafts - Joyful Journey Mom says:
    January 23, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    […] Laughing Kids Learn, shares a great recipe for playdough and this time it comes with a Chinese New Year twist. My children are able to listen to a book better when fidgeting, and playdough could be used to help with concentration as well.  […]

    Reply
  3. Chinese New Year Activities | Clare's Little Tots says:
    January 24, 2017 at 6:03 am

    […] is always a hit with my little ones and Chinese New Year Playdough by Laughing Kids Learn is a lovely deep red colour and just look at the colour of this Chinese […]

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  4. 50+ Chinese New Year Crafts and Activities for Kids - Buggy and Buddy says:
    January 10, 2018 at 6:43 am

    […] Playdough Inspired Chinese New Year from Laughing Kids Learn […]

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  5. 100+ Chinese New Year Activities for Kids to Gain Cultural Experiences - Fortune Cookie Mom says:
    November 19, 2019 at 5:10 pm

    […] Playdough Inspired by Chinese New Year from Laughing Kids LearnChinese New Year Sensory Play with Spice Play Dough from Nurture Store […]

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  6. 10 Exciting Chinese New Year Activities for Kids says:
    January 16, 2020 at 3:46 am

    […] a fun sensory activity that also builds fine motor muscles, you and your kids can mix up a batch of Chinese New Year playdough. Laughing Kids […]

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  7. 100+ Chinese New Year Activities for Kids to Gain Chinese Cultural Experiences - Fortune Cookie Mom says:
    January 16, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    […] Playdough Inspired by Chinese New Year from Laughing Kids Learn […]

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  8. Chinese New Year Printables and Activities for Kids - Artsy Momma says:
    January 31, 2021 at 12:03 pm

    […] Chinese New Year Playdough from Laughing Kids Learn – Talk about happiness and good fortune for the coming year with a big batch of CNY playdough. Make it bright red, and add some gold coins for prosperity and good luck! […]

    Reply

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Welcome
Hello and welcome!
My name is Kate and I am a mum to two little girls, Possum and Boo. We have lots of fun together learning with play at home and are pleased to share some of what we do with you.
Read my about page to find out more.

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