Games for a Lunar New Year

Four Seasons

• The four seasons is a traditional Chinese game that aims to help children remember the order in which seasons change. One person is assigned the leader and scorekeeper. The rest of the players are separated into four groups representing the seasons - winter, spring, summer and fall. The game starts with the leader saying "I am spring, I am leaving." Since summer comes after spring, the players representing summer should immediately stand up and say "I am summer, I am coming." The group is only given a point if everyone stands up. The leader would continue with "I am summer, I am leaving" and so on. To make this a little more difficult, the leader can randomly choose a leaving season to catch a team off guard.

Catch the Dragon's Tail

• Gather 10 or more players and line them up. All the player's hands should be on the shoulders of the player in front of them, forming a long, connected line. The front player is the dragon's head while the back is the tail. The player in the front should try to catch the dragon's tail while the players in the middle try to prevent him from doing so. Make sure the line does not break. When the head catches the tail, the head goes to the end of the line, becoming the new tail. The new head then continues to try and catch the new tail.

The Chopstick Game

• To play the chopstick game, you will need a pair of chopsticks, two bowls, marbles, marshmallows and assorted candies for each child. Place empty bowls on one end of a field. On the other end of the field, place the items in the bowl. Give each child a pair of chopsticks and challenge them to move every item from the current bowl to the empty bowl. They are only allowed to use the chopsticks to carry the item and they are only allowed to move one item at a time. If you drop an item, you must return it to the bowl and choose another item. The first person to put all their items in the other bowl wins.

Fingers Out

• This is a game for two children. At the count of three, each child should throw out either their fist (representing zero), one, two or three fingers. At the same time their fingers are thrown out, each child should shout out a number between one and six, guessing how many fingers are out total. Count the number of fingers thrown. The child that correctly guesses wins a point. The first to five or 10 points, wins.