The fifteen day holiday celebrates the arrival of the new year based on a lunisolar calendar. These children's books about Chinese New Year tell readers about customs like the Chinese zodiac (2023 is the Year of the Rabbit!), dancing dragons, giving red envelopes full of money, paper lanterns, yummy traditional foods and more.

Although, frequently referred to as Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year is celebrated not just in China. Falling in late January or early February, Lunar New Year is widely celebrated in other countries, including Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, and others, as well as by populations of East Asian descent elsewhere in the world.

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Wonderful Chinese New Year Books

THE ANIMALS OF CHINESE NEW YEAR / 中国农历新年动物生肖 by Jen Sookfong Lee

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This is by far the most adorable Chinese New Year book on this list! This bilingual board book is full of sweet photos of babies and toddlers. Each page highlights one of the Chinese zodiac animals, outlining a trait of that animal. The rat wants to win, the tiger is brave and so forth. A companion photo of depicts a child reflecting that same trait. You will be grinning from ear to ear. Ages 0 and up.

WELCOME TO CHINATOWN by William Low

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Welcome to Chinatown is a bilingual board book version of Low's earlier book, Chinatown, and you should feel free to pick up either book at your library! William Low's gorgeous saturated illustrations share the vivid experience that is NYC's Chinatown. Spare text takes us on an intergenerational tour of the lively neighborhood. The narrator imparts the wisdom of his grandmother as he describes Chinatown from a variety of perspectives, such as shop windows, dense apartments, crowded sidewalks, subway entrances, and of course, the New Year celebration. Ages 0-3 (board book) / 4 and up (original)

MORE: Picture Books set in New York City

POPO'S LUCKY CHINESE NEW YEAR by Virginia Loh-Hagen, illustrated by Renné Benoit

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This was one of my favorite Lunar New Year picture books! PoPo (grandmother) is arriving from China to spend the New Year festivities. PoPo explains to her granddaughter the reasons behind many of the traditions, such as why they clean the home at this time, what foods they cook, and why children receive red envelopes. Light humor enlivens the text and illustrations, and those unfamiliar with Chinese New Year customs will be both informed and entertained. Delightful. Ages 4 and up.

BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR by Grace Lin

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This is a wonderfully vibrant and joyful book to read to your kids for the Lunar New Year. We watch a family prepare for the celebrations and learn about activities and food traditions. I particularly love the fold out dragon! Ages 3 and up.

PLAYING WITH LANTERNS by Wang Yage, illustrated by Zhu Chengliang

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This is a fun tale, originally published in China, about a group of children who enjoy the outdoors at night during Chinese New Year with their colorful paper lanterns. I love the illustrations of the snowy landscapes as the children play over the two week long New Year period. Ages 4 and up.

MORE: Chinese Folktales for Kids

FRIENDS ARE FRIENDS, FOREVER by Dane Liu, illustrated by Lynn Scurfield

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The night before the Lunar New Year, Dandan tells her friend, Yueyue, that her family is moving to America. After a delicious New Year meal, the friends engage in their favorite tradition of cutting red paper snowflakes and hanging them outside on the snowy trees as fireworks light up the sky. In America, Dandan experiences the loneliness that accompanies being somewhere unfamiliar. However, by the time the next Lunar New Year rolls around, she has a new friend to help her make the red paper cuttings. A sweet story that many children will relate to. Ages 4 and up.

A NEW YEAR'S REUNION by Yu Li-Qiong, illustrated by Zhu Cheng-Liang

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Little Maomao's father is a migrant worker in China, but he is coming home for the Lunar New Year. She loves spending time with him, fixing things around the house, watching the dragon dancers, enjoying sticky rice balls. But when the New Year celebrations are over, her father must return to his work far away. This is a touching story, lovingly capturing the joy of reunions, as well as the emotional tug when they end. Age 4 and up.

MORE: Watermelon Chess: a traditional game from China

THE GREAT RACE: THE STORY OF THE CHINESE ZODIAC by Dawn Casey, illustrated by Anne Wilson

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Have your kids ever asked why there is no "year of the cat?" This is the folktale that tells how each animal was chosen and given an order placement in the Chinese calendar. The Jade Emperor holds a swimming race across a wide river. The rat who is a poor swimmer but quite wily, concocts a plan to travel on the back of an ox but when he sees that the cat may beat him to the finish, he pushes him into the water. The rat does win in the end and is rewarded with the first year of the calendar. Ages 4 and up.

CHINESE NEW YEAR COLORS by Richard Lo

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This bilingual book introduces children to tradtions of the Chinese New Year by pairing them with a color. For example, lü (green) is the color of lucky bamboo, given to others during the celebration. Hóng (red) is the color of firecrackers. Each color is written three ways–in English, Chinese characters and a romanized rendition of the Chinese. After each color, the double page spread displays a large illustration of the object alongside a brief accounting of how it relates to Chinese New Year festivities. Ages 2 and up.

SAM AND THE LUCKY MONEY by Karen Chinn, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu

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Sam is excited to be able to spend his lucky Lunar New Year money. He has four dollars and his mom has told him he can buy anything he wants. On their trip through the neighborhood Sam notices a homeless man with bare feet. As he contemplates how to spend his money he gets frustrated that the four dollars is never enough to buy what he wants. His mother reminds him to appreciate what he has. During a second encounter with the homeless man, Sam understands how he can best spend his money. Ages 5 and up.

MORE: Picture books about kindness

The post 10 Best Books that Celebrate the Lunar New Year! appeared first on What Do We Do All Day.

The New Year books on this book list will inspire kids to look forward to a fresh start, perhaps make a resolution or two, and perhaps even start a New Year's tradition of their own.

So whether you stay up all night, counting down the hours until January first, or if you all head off to bed early for a good night's sleep make it your New Year Resolution to read all of these books and continue in the same way throughout the year.  (Note: Book covers and titles are affiliate links that may earn commission.)

Books about New Year's Day Celebrations

Snow Horses: A First Night Story by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Micha Archer

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This is a wonderfully peaceful book that celebrates the spirit of community at year's end. It's perfect to read when you want the kids to wind down from all the New Year festivities. On a snowy New Year, a young girl takes out two black horses and a sled into the night. Along the way they collect revelers and neighbors for a celebratory sleigh ride.

Freedom Soup by Tami Charles, illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara

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Don't miss this marvelous picture book about a joyous New Year's tradition! Ti Gran teaches Belle about the Haitian tradition of making Freedom Soup for New Year. Ti Gran shares the cultural history of the revolution as well as the recipe. By the end of the book your kids will be dancing, singing and clapping along with Ti Gran and Belle.

Felíz New Year, Ava Gabriela! by Alexandra Alessandri, illustrated by Addy Rivera Sonda

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Ava is celebrating New Year's with her family in Colombia, but she is feeling shy. Her mother reassures her that her feelings are normal and slowly, Ava starts to gain self-confidence. I love how the story gives us a taste of Colombian New Year's traditions. Includes a glossary of Spanish words and phrases used in the text.

Every Month Is a New Year: Celebrations Around the World by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Susan L. Roth

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This is a fantastic poetry collection which introduces readers to global new year holidays. Most western children know about January 1, the Lunar New Year and Rosh Hashanah, but  there are 9 more! Singer shares a poem for each month to celebrate a different new year tradition.

MORE: New Year's poems for kids and families

Shanté Keys and the New Year's Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenpor, illustrated by Marion Eldridge

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Eating black-eyed peas at New Year's is a southern tradition signifying good luck for the coming year. When Shanté goes out to her neighbors, looking for the requisite peas, she learns all about how other cultures celebrate New Year's.

The Stars Will Still Shine by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke

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This is not really a New Year-specific book, but is still one of my top of my list of books to read when everyone is talking about new beginnings. I love this gentle reassuring book about how cycles of events continue to come and go. It's optimistic, reaffirming the goodness of life and the kindness of individuals no matter what comes. Read it all year long.

MORE: Picture books about new beginnings

Happy New Year, Spot! by Eric Hill

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So, you need a New Year book for toddlers and preschoolers to explain why they can't stay up until midnight? Good old Spot is your answer! This lovable, dependable children's book character can't stay up either, but he still finds a way to join in the celebration. Expect to read it twelve dozen times in a row. But if it gets the kids to bed, you'll read it twice as many times, right?

P. Bear's New Year's Party: A Counting Book by Owen Paul Lewis

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I really like Owen Paul Lewis' simple illustrative and this is a great New Year's Eve book for toddlers and preschoolers. There are some nice components: a clock for teaching time, interesting vocabulary for groups of animals ("flock", "herd", etc), as well as counting.

Squirrel's New Year's Resolution by Pat Miller, illustrated by Kathi Ember

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This is a fun choice to read if you are discussing resolutions with your children. Squirrel walks through the forest wondering what resolutions she should make for the new year, finally realizing that all her kind and helpful actions are what's really important. After reading, be sure to craft your own family kindness resolutions.

Happy New Year Everywhere! by Arlene Erlbach, illustrated by Sharon Lane Holm

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Are you the kind of person who has the energy for New Year's themed crafts and activities organized by country? If you are, then this is the book for you.

The Night Before New Year's by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Amy Wummer

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Wing has a series of "night before [insert holiday here]" books. This one looks at… you guessed it. New Year's. It's a fun choice for kids addicted to counting down the hours.

The post Celebratory Books about New Year's for Kids! appeared first on What Do We Do All Day.

Include poetry in your festivities!

Obviously!

When I shared a few Christmas poems for your family, I mentioned how inserting a poem or two into your celebrations doesn't take much time or effort. And yet, the rewards of poetry are numerous.

I scoured the shelves for some good New Year's poetry to share with you. There are not many in the public domain (which is all I can publish in full here) to which I felt kids would enthusiastically respond. But I found a few to recommend.

However, if none of these strike your fancy, the holiday break from school is the perfect time to spend some time in the library stacks, check out a poetry book, along with these New Year's Day picture books, and find a poem that inspires you to start the New Year out right. And here's a secret: The poem doesn't even have to be about the New Year.

So I say, blow off the dust of time! Read and recite as you count down to the new year! Commit to memorizing a poem for the new beginning. Throw up your hat, blow your noise maker and toss that confetti for these New Year's poems kids and families will love!

Suggestions for how to incorporate poetry into your festivities:

Sequential! Take turns reading a poem aloud every hour as you count down to midnight.

Collaborate! Everyone can read one verse of a long poem when the clock strikes midnight.

Surprise! Everyone chooses a poem in secret and then shares it with the family at the breakfast table the next morning.

Here are a few of my favorite classic poems for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Below I have a form where you can request a printable containing these poems and few additional classic New Year's Day poems.

The Year
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That's not been said a thousand times?

The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.

We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.

We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.

We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our brides, we sheet our dead.

We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that's the burden of the year.

*** The following short poem is great for New Year's Morning.

January
by William Carlos Williams

Again I reply to the triple winds
running chromatic fifths of derision
outside my window:
                                  Play louder.
You will not succeed. I am
bound more to my sentences
the more you batter at me
to follow you.
                                  And the wind,
as before, fingers perfectly
its derisive music.

*** This next one is great for resolutions!

It Couldn't Be Done
by Edgar Guest 

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
     But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
     Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
     On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
     That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
     At least no one ever has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
     And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
     Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
     That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
     There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
     The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
     Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
     That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

Also included in the printable:

• "New Year's Morning" by Helen Hunt Jackson
• "In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]" by Alfred Lord Tennyson
• "The Garden Year" by Sara Coleridge

The post New Year's Poems for Your Family Celebration! appeared first on What Do We Do All Day.

Since I knew my boys would take delight in making a toy that they could use to annoy one another, a buzzing, spinning noise maker seemed like the perfect science project. But don't let my kids' sibling rivalry deter you! These spinning noise makers are actually easy to make and will teach kids about how vibrations produce different sounds.

Making these buzzers is a fairly simple process. I enjoyed decorating them, but at the time my boys reacted with a bit of a grumpy 'tude when I suggested jazzing them up with their artistic skills, so as an alternative, we chose some printable patterns. I, however, quite enjoyed a bit of quiet time with the markers.

Just a side note: It turns out the kids didn't use the toy to annoy each other. Instead they tried to see how long they could keep the noise makers spinning, two at a time.

(Note: this post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through these links may earn commission.)

What you need:

• Jumbo craft sticks. We used fun colors, but plain ones like these will save you a few bucks.
• You need wide bands. We used #64 rubber bands. Did you know rubber bands have numbers? Yeah, me neither. The things we learn.
• Foam. I cut up leftover foam sheets like these. I'm a big fan of not buying too many products like these that stay in the environment for-evah. Put the challenge to your kids to find something around the house to try and use if you don't already have foam craft sheet. Do you have a suggestion for something that might work? Leave a note in the comments below.
• Tape
• Scissors
• String
• Index cards (or card stock cut to size)
• Optional: markers or crayons to decorate index cards.
• Optional: print out these black and white designs on card stock and cut to size

How to make a spinning noise maker

Instructions:

1. Decorate index cards, if desired (or use the printable).

2. Tape an index card to each side of the craft stick.

3. Cut 2 strips of craft foam the width of your craft stick and about 4 inches long. Double it and tape to ends of craft stick.

4. Tie a piece of string to the stick. The length of string should be about ¾ the length of your child's arm.

5. Stretch the rubber band along the length of the stick, over the craft foam.

6. Grasp the string and spin!

Extensions:

• Experiment with the length of the string. If the string is shorter or longer does the sound change?
• Does the sound change if you use a thicker piece of foam?
• What about if you use a different size or shape index card?
• What about if you use only one index card?
• What happens when you try and spin the noise maker backwards?
• Does the noise maker work if you twirl it above your head? What about off to the side? What if you try and twirl it downward?
• How does the sound change when you spin it fast or slow?
• What happens when you use a different size rubber band?

What's happening?

The noise is made when the rubber band vibrates against the wooden craft stick. These vibrations create waves in the air that we perceive as sound. This is also what happens when bees and flies fly. The movement of their tiny wings move the air and make a buzzing noise.

Want more spinning fun? Make an old-fashioned whirligig toy.

Explore more science of the senses:

• Scented milk carton candles
• Science art projects
• Science of sight: thaumatrope

The post Spinning Noise Maker (Science of Sound) appeared first on What Do We Do All Day.

I decided to focus our New Year's Resolution conversation on ways we can be kind to other family members.

Family Kindness Resolutions for the New Year

After school the kids and I started out by having a conversation about what things other family members did for us this year that we enjoyed. This was a fun way to remember the good times we had together. I asked the boys what each person did for them that they really appreciated. There was clearly a theme of spending quality time with each other! (Just a little reminder to us parents about what kids really want.)

Then we talked about how we can use those examples to make resolutions to reciprocate that kindness. We went down the list, covering each grandparent, parent and sibling, choosing something we wanted to do for that other person.

We decorated index cards and wrote down our resolutions. I had to keep the decorating simple since it's not always easy to motivate my kids to do arts and crafts. New Kid got frustrated with the writing part quickly (he's only 5) but Kiddo really got into creating his resolutions. It's wonderful to see his empathy develop. I also love how my 8 year old wrote "N.Y.R." on each of his cards!

Finally we collected all the cards together and turned it into a book (see top photo) to refer to throughout the year. I'm looking forward to 2014: the Year of Kindness!

More ways to grow kind kids and teach family kindness: 

• Thoughtful Children's Books about Kindness
• Children's Books for a Happy New Year's Day
• A "Tip Jar" to Help Siblings Get Along
• Family Harmony Tokens
• The Giant Hug: A Family Valentine

The post New Year's Resolutions to Practice Family Kindness appeared first on What Do We Do All Day.