Lunar New Year Drums

By Leah Farnham (teacher, mom, CMoR member)

Lunar New Year begins Friday, February 12th, 2021. This joyful holiday is celebrated in many countries around the world each year. The celebrations can last one to two weeks depending on the country and culture. Watch this video from PBS to learn more about Lunar New Year.

My children were very inspired by this video and wanted to create something to use on February 12th for our at home celebration. I will spare you the directions to our somewhat failed paper bag dragon costume, but will happily gift you an amazing picture of a very intense toddler-dragon before moving on.

Make Your Own Drum

Materials:

Instructions:

1. Decorate bottom of paper plates with paint or other supplies. We decided to use red and yellow paint. Some ideas for decorations include dragons, fireworks, and oranges (which are said to bring good luck).

2. After your paper plates have dried, tape the pencil to the inside of one plate leaving enough sticking out below for it to be used as a handle.

3. Use the stapler or duct take to join the 2 plates together with the pencil sticking out from below.

4. Make one hole on each side of the plates using the hole punch.

5. Tie string through the holes and attach pony beads to one side.

Once complete, you should be able to twist the drum back and forth to make a nice rhythm.

CMoR App

I have enjoyed many visits to CMoR around Lunar New Year and other holidays over the years. While this year has brought many challenges, I have loved one addition that CMoR has made to their member services. The addition of the Museums Anywhere App has made it so easy to book classes and visits to CMoR. The app saves your membership information, allows you to see the calendar of events, and get tickets all in one place. Download it today and don’t miss out on any of the offerings at CMoR.

Here are directions:

-Visit the app store on your phone

-Search “Museum Anywhere” – the resulting app will say “eMembership Card” l

-Download the app

-Search for the “Children’s Museum of Richmond” and you’ll find our logo (Children’s Museum with the red puzzle piece!)

-Click “Find My Membership Card”

-Enter your primary members’ last name and phone number to look up your specific card

-Questions? Contact membership@childrensmuseumofrichmond.org

Happy Lunar New Year! Be sure to share this post and your creations with us on Facebook or Instagram. May this year bring us all lots of luck!