Chinese New Year -- Year of the Ram

For the past couple of years, my friend and I have put together some fun crafts for the kids to do in honor of the Chinese New Year. It's a fun way to learn about another culture and honor their celebrations. This year, since it is the year of the ram for the Chinese zodiac, we decided to make ram horns for the kids to wear! It was a simple craft that cost all of $3 dollars to do, it was quick to put together, and the kids had a blast wearing their ram horns all day long!

If you really want to go above and beyond, you could also read your kids the story of the Chinese zodiac while they work on making their ram horns.
Here is a link to the story: http://www.topmarks.co.uk/ChineseNewYear/ZodiacStory.aspx

Also, if you go to the grocery store and look in the Asian food section, you can find a fun selection of sweet treats like rice paper candies, Pocky, or even fortune cookies if you want to serve a Chinese themed treat. Lychee fruit is another fun treat, or you can serve pot stickers or dim sum if you'd rather take the savory route. And you can never go wrong with serving up some nice tea!

As for making the ram horns, here's what you'll need (you can find most of this already in your home or at the dollar store):

2 paper plates
clear tape
crayons
1 headband
scissors
hot glue

Let your kids color the outer rim of the plates (the ribbed part) with crayons.

Once they are done, depending on their age, either they can cut or you can cut off the outside of the plates.

Next, cut a point on the end of each "horn".

Then, curl the horn in on itself.

Let the horn uncurl. It is now ready to attach to the headband.

Fold the bottom base of the horn over the headband and tape it to itself.

Lastly, put a little hot glue into the hole where the headband goes through the base of the horn. This will keep the horns from sliding around.

And there you have it, ram horns!