Give up?
Chinese New Year!! This has become a big day for our family since we adopted our youngest daughter from China four years ago. We love to decorate with Chinese lanterns, and make piles and piles of Chinese food. We love to make a lot of noise and throw a lot of confetti. And we love to share this day with friends and family.
Gong Xi Fa Cai is how you say "Happy New Year" in Mandarin Chinese. The Cantonese version is "Gung Hay Fat Choy". This year the first day of the Spring Festival falls on January 23rd. Mark your calendars! And get ready to start a new family tradition. I promise that it will be loads of fun. To get you in the mood, I have made a paper fortune teller for you. I filled mine with zodiac animals and chinese fortune cookie fortunes. These are not traditional, but the kids will love them. You may be more familiar with the term "Cootie Catcher". Most kids know how to fold them and use them. If not, you may find a tutorial here.
This is how you play:
*Print and fold the paper fortune teller as described in the tutorial.
*You hold the fortune teller by putting the thumb and index finger from each hand into the "cups" on the bottom.
*Now the person seeking a fortune chooses one of the words on the outside. The teller then opens and closes the peaks while spelling whichever word was chosen. For example, if I chose the word "Gong", the teller would open the peaks by moving their thumbs and index fingers apart first in a north and south position (for the letter "g") then in an east and west position (for the letter "o"), North and south ("n"). And east and west ("g"). Is that as clear as mud?
*Now the person seeking a fortune chooses one of the zodiac animals.
*The teller once again spells the name of the animal while moving the peaks.
*Choose another animal.
*The teller then lifts the flap and reads the fortune underneath.
It's just that simple. I guarantee hours of entertainment!
You can print the paper fortune teller by clicking on the appropriate buttons below.
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