Games to Celebrate the Chinese New Year

Concentration Games

Players try to find pairs for animals of the Chinese zodiac in as few attempts as possible in "Concentration," found at Apples 4 the Teacher. Twelve animals comprise the zodiac, with each animal taking the name of a Chinese New Year and repeating every 12 years. The 12-year cycle starts with the rat and continues with such animals as the ox, tiger, rabbit and dragon. In this game, players click one card at a time to find a match and reveal parts of a Chinese New Year image.

Envelopes bring players good wishes for the Chinese New Year in "Red Envelopes," found at PBS Kids. Coins fill the envelopes after players make a match.

A young man and woman need help dressing for festivities in "Chinese New Year Dressup," found at Top Makeover Games. Players choose the characters' skin tone, hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, lips, eye color, clothing, footwear and accessories.

Red outfits bring a brother and sister good luck for the new year in "Dress Up," found at PBS Kids. Players choose the siblings' hair, clothing and footwear.

Parties offer guests the chance to participate in Chinese New Year games. Guests take turns mimicking the sound of a zodiac animal as other players try to guess the animal. Alternately, a leader assigns the same animal to two players, neither knowing who has the matching animal. All players mimic their animal as they walk around the room in search of their partner; the first pair of "animals" to match up wins.

Players must not use their hands to move marbles or marshmallows from bowl to bowl in a Chinese New Year race. Using chopsticks, players move items one at a time from one bowl to another bowl 7 feet away. Players start over if they drop an item. The first player to transport all items from one bowl to the other wins.

Lions receive good luck in the form of red envelopes, but need players' help to get them dancing in "Lion Dances," found at PBS Kids. Players click on squares until all squares look like the lion on the right side of the screen. Lions start to dance once players make a perfect match.

Players try to unscramble Chinese New Year images within four minutes in "Scrambler Puzzles," found at Apples 4 the Teacher. Puzzles include a dragon, Chinese lanterns, fireworks, fortune cookies and a red money envelope. Players click pieces two at a time to swap them with each other and restore the image to its correct form.

Players restore three broken statues for the Chinese New Year in "Decorate," found at PBS Kids. The statues represent long life, luck and wealth. For each statue, players drag each piece to the spot it belongs. Also at PBS Kids, players put Chinese New year food dishes in their proper spots in "Let's Eat." When a dish appears, players click on the black shape on the table that has the same shape as the dish.