How to make a lucky fish poster for Lunar New Year

The fish is often associated with the Lunar New Year. Fish are seen as auspicious in China, Vietnam and Thailand.

In this activity, Hantastic Kids talk you through the links between the fish and Chinese celebrations for the New Year.

Why fish?

The fish（鱼yú）is a pun for ‘abundance’, ‘surplus’ or ‘plenty’ in the Chinese language.

Hence in Chinese culture fish has been an auspicious symbol for centuries. We often see a lot of them around Chinese New Year when people hope to have a lucky start of the year.

在中文里，“鱼”同“余”字谐音，自古有着“盈余”的吉祥象征意义。在迎接春节之际，人们向往开年好运，因此鱼的图样广泛出现在春节装饰物上。

在中文裡，“魚”同“餘”字諧音，自古有著“盈餘”的吉祥象徵意義。在迎接春節之際，人們嚮往開年好運，因此魚的圖樣廣泛出現在春節裝飾物上。

In this activity, you can create your own lucky fish poster to celebrate the start of Chinese Lunar New Year.

通过这个手工活动，我们可以给孩子讲解中华文化中鱼的象征意义，并且协助孩子创作自己的春节双鱼门帖来喜迎新春。

通過這個手工活動，我們可以給孩子講解中華文化中魚的象徵意義，並且協助孩子創作自己的春節雙魚門帖來喜迎新春。

This activity has been created by Hantastic Kids, for the National Maritime Museum.

Materials for the activity: gold and red paper, small bits of coloured paper, glue, scissors, a bowl, a small lid, a pencil and two googgly eyes are optional.

You will need:

Craft paper: red x 1; yellow or gold x 1; assorted colours x 3 of your choice. (Note: red and yellow are the key festive colours of Chinese New Year.)

A pencil

A pair of scissors

Glue

A round bowl or small dish (to draw around)

A small bottle cap (again, to draw around)

Googly eyes x 2 (not essential; you can draw your own fish eyes!)

Step 1: Create your basic shapes

Cut the red paper into a large square.

Draw around the the bowl to create a large circle on the yellow or gold paper.

Draw around the bottle top to create eight circles on the assorted paper and the yellow or gold paper. You will need two round shapes of each colour.

A square piece of red paper. A bowl on top of gold paper to be drawn around. Small pieces of paper with small circles drawn on.

Step 2: Cut out your shapes

Cut out all your basic shapes ready to use.

A piece of red paper in a square. A piece of gold paper in a large circle. Eight small circles in gold, pink, yellow and blue patterned paper.

Step 3: Refine the shapes

Cut the body of your fish – draw a 'S' shape line (like a Ying-Yang) on the large round shape first. Follow the line to cut it into two parts.

Cut the small round shapes in half.

A square piece of red paper. Two pieces of gold paper cut into ying-yang shapes (or teardrops). Eight small circles cut almost in half.

Step 4: Decorate your fish

Place the body of fish in the centre of the red square. If you have them, stick the googly eyes on; or simply draw the eyes. Place the small semi-circles of paper in place to create tails, fins, and the scales of your fish.