Welcome to the Storytime at Home series! Every other week, we share a list of book options tied to a kid-approved theme, a craft you can set up to go along with the theme, songs/rhymes you can do during storytime, and additional enrichment activities. All books are available at Richmond Public Library, and crafts will involve items you likely have at home already! Our hope is that we can make it easy for you to share stories with your little ones and create a little bit of library magic at home.
P.S. Love library storytimes? Take a look at all in-library storytime options here. There is a storytime for your child every morning at our various branches!
Okay, now to the fun stuff…
Today’s storytime theme is LUNAR NEW YEAR!
Children are never too young to learn about their cultures and others. Celebrating diversity is a practice we embrace every day, and books are a great way to share that with young children. In this spirit, the theme this week is Lunar New Year. Lunar New Year – sometimes known as Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, and more, depending on the culture – is a two-week celebration that celebrates luck, health, and reuniting with family. The holiday is based on the lunar calendar, which follows the cycles of the moon rather than the sun, meaning it falls on a different date each year, usually between late January and mid-February. This year, Lunar New Year kicks off on January 29 and concludes on February 12 with the Lantern Festival. 2025 is the Year of the Snake, and celebrations typically include a family feast, dragon parades, lion dances, red envelope exchanges, fireworks, and more. Dive into a new holiday with special stories today! The library has some wonderful books about Lunar New Year, and we’ve included some of our favorites below. When you visit, you can also search in our catalog or ask a librarian to help you find the perfect book for you and your child.
Books
Reading to your kiddos turns them into confident thinkers. Making books a regular part of your daily routine is a great way to build children’s love of reading and learning. Storytimes also help build excitement around reading to support their literacy development.
Here are a few book options you can choose from for your Lunar New Year-themed storytime.
Preschool
- Lunar New Year by Hannah Eliot
- Two New Years by Richard Ho
- Tomorrow Is New Year’s Day: Seollal, A Korean Celebration of the Lunar New Year by Aram Kim
- Chloe’s Lunar New Year by Lily LaMotte
- Chinese New Year by Rebecca Pettiford
- Playing With Lanterns by Wang Yage
- Lunar New Year by Natasha Yim
- We Celebrate The Light by Jane Yolen
- Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon by Kat Zhang
- Curious George: Dragon Dance
Toddler/Baby
- Maisy’s Chinese New Year by Lucy Cousins
- Lunar New Year by Hannah Eliot
- My First Chinese New Year by Karen Katz
- Chinese New Year Colors by Rich Lo
- Dragon Dancing by Carole Lexa Schaefer
There are many ways to make reading fun and engaging for your little one!
Click here to see some of our favorite tips for bringing stories to life at home.
- Point at the pictures and ask your child what they see. Help build their vocabulary by pointing to pictures and saying the word aloud.
- Ask your child questions about the story: What do you think will happen next? How do you think this character is feeling?
- Read with expression and enthusiasm, and use different voices for different characters.
- Act out what’s happening in the story.
- As your child gets older, count objects in a book, discuss the different colors they see, point out shapes in the story, etc.
- Snuggle up and be patient. Reading is great bonding time for you and your child. Take your time walking them through the story. If your child wants to turn the page or be finished with reading, that’s OK too. You don’t have to read every word or even every page for reading with your little one to be beneficial for their development.
Songs and Rhymes
We love adding songs and rhymes to our storytimes. This is a great way to practice language with your child and support their physical (motor) development through movement.
Here are two songs and rhymes you can use for this themed storytime.
Sing and Movement: Chinese New Year
Tune: Muffin Man
See the dragons dance and prance,
dance and prance, dance and prance.
See the dragons dance and prance
on Chinese New Year’s Day.
Repeat with:
See the dragons hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop,
hop, hop, hop. See the dragons hop, hop, hop on Chinese New Year’s Day.
See the dragons shake their tails, shake their tails, shake their tails. See the dragons shake their tails on Chinese New Year’s Day.
See the dragons turn around, turn around, turn around. See the dragons turn around on Chinese New Year’s Day.
See the dragons go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. See the dragons go to sleep on Chinese
New Year’s Day.
Counting Rhyme: Five Red Dragons
Hold five fingers up, count down as you say rhyme
Five red dragons,
Making such a roar
One danced away,
And then there were four!
Four red dragons,
Dancing ’round a tree
One danced away,
And then there were three!
Three red dragons,
Dancing ’round you
One danced away,
And then there were two!
Two red dragons,
Dancing in the sun
One danced away,
And then there was one!
One red dragon having lots of fun
She danced away and then there were none!
Arts and Crafts
Adding a craft along with a book is a great way to continue allowing your child to learn, explore, and grow. Crafts are a nice supplement as they encourage motor development, creativity, self-confidence, and more.
In fact, art and craft activities:
- Build fine motor skills. Actions such as painting, coloring, gluing, and cutting develop small muscles in small hands and improve coordination skills as children learn to use both hands at the same time.
- Support early literacy. When children make art, they learn vocabulary and how to follow directions when getting verbal instructions from parents and caregivers. They also boost their communication skills via talking about their work!
- Teach early math concepts. Math skills are used frequently in arts and crafts. Kids learn about and recognize different shapes, count and sort art supplies, and even measure out materials.
- Encourage creativity. Art helps develop creativity, self-expression, problem-solving, and curiosity.
- Boost self-esteem. Doing arts and crafts can give children a sense of achievement and allow them to take pride in their work, which builds confidence.
- Offer bonding time. Kids love spending quality time with parents and caregivers, and arts and crafts are a great opportunity for this.
Here is a craft activity you can do along with the Lunar New Year theme.
Toilet Paper Roll Snake Craft
Materials Needed
- Toilet paper rolls
- Paints (red, black, yellow)
- Scissors
- Googly eyes (optional)
- Glue (optional)
Source: Red Ted Art
Directions
- Help your child paint their toilet paper roll and let dry.
- Cut diagonally into the roll, cutting a spiral all the way around.
- Shape one end to be the snake’s head.
- Glue or paint or color eyes onto the snake’s head.
You can also leave your toilet paper roll unpainted and decorate with stickers, markers, etc.
Additional Enrichment Ideas
The fun doesn’t have to end at books, songs, and a craft. There are many ways to enrich a storytime with additional activities and lessons. Here are a few ideas for you and your child:
- Find other Lunar New Year crafts to do with your kids here.
- Join us in the library for Lunar New Year kickoff activities, Year of the Snake static snake making, or Chinese New Year lantern making.
And check out these great ideas from ParentsTogether:
- Make dragon puppets and have a puppet show. First, accordion-fold a strip of red paper for the body. Draw and cut out a dragon head and tail (these free printables help make it easy) and glue them to each end. Tape popsicle sticks near the head and tail so you can make them dance!
- Eat oranges or plant peonies. These fruits and flowers are believed to bring good luck and are often part of the Lunar New Year festivities.
- Make fun fireworks. Decorate an empty toilet paper tube with bright colors, glitter, or shiny stickers. Glue strips of red tissue paper coming out of one end to represent fire coming out of the rocket. Fill the tube with candy—a Chinese tradition to make your year sweet! Artsy Crafty Mama has 15 other great firework crafts you can make with everyday items.
- Wear red. It’s the primary shade of the Lunar New Year, a good-luck color said to symbolize scaring away evil and ushering in good.
- Create paper lanterns. A Lantern Festival, where lit paper lanterns are hung or paraded around, marks the last day of many Lunar New Year celebrations. Find a DIY tutorial online to make your own with paper, tissue, small jars, or other items around the house.
We share these Storytime at Home posts twice a month, so be sure to check back soon for more. You can also search “#storytimeathome” to see all past posts.
Have a suggestion for the next theme we cover? Email Sarah at sarah.fenninger@rva.gov and let us know!
