We celebrated Chinese New Year tonight.
Although we do craft in the run up to events like these, we always do something on the night too as part of the celebrations.
We realised we hadn’t made anything yet to commemorate this New Year being The Year of the Horse, so we knew we had to make something horsey.
I also wanted to make something that could be used again, so we made Mini Chinese New Year Hobby Horses. They can be used as puppets during Chinese New Year celebrations. They can be popped into a jar or vase when not in use as a CNY Decoration. Throughout the year they can be used as Pencil Toppers (stick them to the top of the pencil instead) and Hobby Horses for Fashion Dolls and other little toys.
1. Draw or trace a Horse Head Template. Our printer needs ink so I had to draw one. Feel free to print mine if you wish (N.B. You only need to draw the outline, but I always start drawings with the eye as it helps me put the shape into perspective).
2. Cut out your template.
3. Trace around your template (think about how many horses you will need and fold the paper accordingly. I folded a piece of A4 card twice so I made 4 horse heads in each cut. This made 2 Mini Hobby Horses).
4. Cut out your outline.
5. Decorate your horse heads (turn them to face each other or face away to ensure you decorate different sides.)
6. Sticky tape a pencil onto the horse head (I stuck it this way as it is safer when using as a puppet. If you want to use yours as a Pencil Topper then sticky tape the pencil the other way around).
7. Glue the remaining Horse Head onto the bottom one.
8. Voila! You have a Mini Chinese New Year Hobby Horse.
(This is Rebecca’s!)
We did get wool out as we intended to glue wool for the horse’s mane, however, the kids decided they liked them as they were.
They made the brilliant suggestion that we should make ALL the animals in the Chinese Calendar so we can act out The Great Race with all of them…watch this space!
The Horse Head template can also be printed and used to decorate a Lucky Red Money Envelope.
For more Chinese New Year Crafts please see our round up here.
Gung Hoy Fat Choy!
