Lunar New Year 2025 Teaching Resources
Welcome the 2025 Lunar New Year (sometimes called the Chinese New Year) with your students with a host of classroom-ready worksheets, printables and activities for kids — created by teachers, for teachers!
Whether you're looking to teach your kindergarten students about this important holiday to broaden their cultural horizons, or you're teaching older elementary students about Lunar New Year as you study world history, we have you covered.
Explore printable and digital resources that have been through a rigorous review by the teachers on our team to ensure they're ready for your lesson plans ... and your students!
Haven't taught about Lunar New Year before? Or are you just looking for some fresh ideas? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including important Lunar New Year dates, this year's animal sign and more!
What Is Lunar New Year? A Kid-Friendly Definition
If you're introducing this cultural celebration to your students for the first time, it helps to have a definition at hand to explain Lunar New Year to your students. Here's a great way to help students get acquainted with this event:
Lunar New Year is a holiday celebrated by people in many East Asian countries, such as China and Korea. It's also known as the Spring Festival, and it's a time when people in East Asia welcome the start of the new year according to a lunar calendar, or a calendar that is based on the cycles of the moon.
When Is Lunar New Year 2025?
Much of the world celebrates the new year on January 1, but the Lunar New Year does not match the traditional calendar year. That means this year, the Lunar New Year will begin January 29, 2025.
This event celebrated by millions of people around the world, kicks off at the beginning of a calendar year based on the cycles of the moon — hence the name "lunar" new year. Because it's based on the moon, the actual date of the Lunar New Year varies from year to year.
In some places, Lunar New Year festivities last for weeks, ending with the traditional Lantern Festival, which is held on the day of the first full moon of the year. Also called the Shangyuan Festival, the special culminating event will be held on February 12, 2025.
What Animal Is the New Year Animal of 2025?
This topic is always a hit with young students! Each year is associated with one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, which means that each year is assigned its own animal sign and known as the "year of' that animal."
The Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, marks the transition from one animal to the next. The Lunar New Year in 2025 marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake.
The Snake is the sixth animal in the Chinese Zodiac and is often associated with wisdom, intuition, and elegance. It is believed that the year of the snake will bring a balance between Yin and Yang, representing stability and harmony.
Other animals of the zodiac include:
- Rat
- Ox
- Tiger
- Rabbit
- Dragon
- Horse
- Goat
- Monkey
- Rooster
- Dog
- Pig
Why not have students look up the year they were born to find out what animal is associated with their birth year?
Lunar New Year vs. Chinese New Year — What's the Difference?
Your students may tell you that they have heard this holiday referred to as Chinese New Year. No, they didn't mishear! Chinese Americans and people from China celebrate this holiday annually with a special festival, which is why it's often called Chinese New Year.
However, this isn't a holiday that's singular to China. Many people from around East Asia also mark the start of a new year at this time, including people who live in Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
Here are some other names for the holiday that you may want to share with your students:
- Chinese Chunjie
- Vietnamese Tet
- Korean Solnal or Seollal
- Tibetan Losar
- Free Plan
Snakes and Ladders Game Board Template
Create a fun activity for any subject area with this black-and-white board game template.
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Chinese New Year for Kids - Zodiac Animal Craft Templates
Get crafty and teach your students about the Lunar New year with printable zodiac animal New Year's hat templates.
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Snake Sheds Its Skin Active Game
Take a quick break from learning and encourage teamwork with this fun whole class game.
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Chinese Dragon Puppet – Craft Activity
Bring the Chinese dragon to life with this dragon puppet craft activity.
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Dragon Coloring Pages
Create colorful Chinese dragon art to celebrate the Lunar New Year in the classroom with a pack of printable dragon coloring sheets.
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Chinese Dragon Art Activity for Kids
Print a creative Chinese dragon art activity for kids to celebrate Lunar New Year in the classroom.
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Chinese New Year Informational Poster
Teach about Chinese New Year with this informational poster.
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Asian Zodiac Calendars Poster Pack
A set of posters showing the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese zodiac calendars.
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Year of the Dragon – Paper Lantern Craft
Celebrate the Year of the Dragon with this Chinese New Year paper lantern craft activity.
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Kindergarten Sight Word Worksheet - Color By Sight Word Snake
Build fluency with high-frequency words and give your students a fun way to practice with an editable kindergarten color-by-sight word worksheet.
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Lunar New Year for Kids - Mini-Workbook
Read, research and learn about the Lunar New Year with this activity book.
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Lunar New Year Crafts - The Year of the Rabbit - String Puppet
Get crafty and create a Year of the Rabbit String puppet with our Lunar New Year craft activity.
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Lunar New Year for Kids- Teaching Slide Deck
Learn all about the Lunar New Year celebration with an instructional slide deck.
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Lunar New Year Coloring Pages
Celebrate Lunar New Year with these mindfulness Lunar New Year coloring pages.
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Year of the Rat - Paper Lantern Template
Learn about the animals of the zodiac calendar in the classroom and make your own Chinese Paper lanterns for Lunar New Year.
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12 Zodiac Animals Anchor Chart - Printable
Learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac calendar with a printable Chinese New Year anchor chart/poster.
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Chinese New Year Animal - Reading Passage and Activity
Read and learn about the Chinese zodiac animals with a zodiac animal reading passage and a set of 12 matching activity task cards.
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Lunar New Year for Kids - Vocabulary Word Wall
Print a set of 60 Lunar New Year-related vocabulary cards for a word wall.
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Year of the Dog String Puppet Craft Template
A Lunar New Year themed 'Year of the Dog' string puppet template.
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Chinese New Year - Word Wall Cards
Chinese New Year related vocabulary cards for a word wall.
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Snakes and Ladders Game - Hundreds Chart
Complete each hundreds chart by putting the missing numbered pieces into place to play a game of Snakes and Ladders.
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Paper Cut Tiger Template - Lunar New Year
Hone fine motor skills with this tiger-themed cutting activity for Lunar New Year.
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Tiger Finish the Drawing Activity for Lunar New Year
Use this fun finish the drawing tiger worksheet to help your students explore Lunar New Year in your classroom.
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Year of the Tiger - String Puppet Craft Template
Ring in the ‘Year of the Tiger’ with 2 design options of this string puppet template for Lunar New Year.
- Lunar New Year 2025 Templates
- Lunar New Year 2025 Craft Activities
- Lunar New Year 2025 Coloring Pages
- Lunar New Year 2025 Games
- Lunar New Year 2025 Posters
- Lunar New Year 2025 Word Walls
- Lunar New Year 2025 Board Games
- Lunar New Year 2025 Worksheets
- Lunar New Year 2025 Color by Code
- Lunar New Year 2025 Active Games
- Lunar New Year 2025 Custom Studio Resources
- Lunar New Year 2025 Instructional Slide Decks
- Lunar New Year 2025 Mini Book
- Lunar New Year 2025 for Kindergarten
- Lunar New Year 2025 for 1st Grade
- Lunar New Year 2025 for 2nd Grade
- Lunar New Year 2025 for 3rd Grade
- Lunar New Year 2025 for 4th Grade
- Lunar New Year 2025 for 5th Grade
- Lunar New Year 2025 for 6th Grade
- Lunar New Year 2025 for 7th Grade