Project Title: Year of the Pig
Description: Paper pig craft with Chinese characters
Author: Jedidah Groseclose
Grade level or Target Age Range: Second Grade
Vocabulary: Chinese New Year- explain what this is and how it’s celebrated
Materials: Large pink construction paper, crayons/ markers, scissors, glue
Anticipatory Set: Explain what the pig means for the Chinese New Year (overall luck for career, health, wealth, and love
Demo/Directions:
- Pre-cut circles for the face, ears, nose, and strips of paper (these will allow the nose to pop out.
- We introduced the meaning of the year of the pig as well as some fun facts about pigs and Chinese New Year and the Chinese characters that stand for pig and new year.
- Pass out the parts to make the pig and a piece of construction paper to glue it on
- Show them how to fold the strip of paper along the the lines shown in the template and where to glue the parts of the pig. (glue the 2 ends of the folded paper in the general location of square A and B and glue the nose on top.)
- They can be creative and draw the eyes on with markers/ crayons however they want.
- If you want to challenge them, next to their pig show them how to draw the Chinese characters for “Happy New Years”
- Pre-cut circles for the face, ears, nose, and strips of paper (these will allow the nose to pop out.
Discussion: Ask what year the students were born in, and tell them which animal they are on the Chinese calendar and what it means. Ask if any of them celebrate Chinese New Year, and if so, what do they do.
Instructional Reflection:
Many of our students out of Asian decent, so they enjoyed this project a lot because it was a topic they were familiar with and enjoyed celebrating. Kids always have fun finding out what animal they are on the calendar and the virtues that coincide with it. I think it’s important for them to know the holidays of different cultures and the significance they have and mean to people.
“Transforming Lives Through Art”
~Jedidah Groseclose