Chinese New Year Dragon

How to Make

1. Cut the lid off a ten-egg carton. Cut out eight of the individual egg compartments from the box. Turn them upside down and paint them red. Take a six-egg carton and paint the whole box red.
2. Once dry, stick two of the upside down egg compartments on the top of the lid towards the back of the egg carton. Stick two large wiggle eyes on the front of them. Cut two pieces of gold ribbon to 30cm long and curl them with scissors. Draw two black dots on the top of the lid in front of the eyes to make the nostrils. Stick the two pieces of curled ribbon on each nostril.
3. Cut out lots of small triangles out of white card. Glue them all around the edge of the lid and the base to act as the teeth. Leave about a 7cm gap at the front on the bottom row of teeth. Cut out four strips of cellophane, two red and two yellow, 23cm long. Stick the ends of the strips to the inside base of the carton, coming out of the mouth.
4. Poke a small hole on the top of the lid of the egg carton, just in front of the eyes. Cut a red piece of ribbon 60cm long and thread it through the hole. Tie a knot in the end of the ribbon inside the box to prevent it from coming out.
5. Poke a hole through the left and right side of each upside-down egg compartment. Cut six pieces of red pipe cleaners to 10cm long. Poke the pipe cleaner pieces through the holes in the upside-down egg compartments so that they all join up in a line. Secure them by bending the pipe cleaners over on the inside.
6. Poke another hole through the back of the lid of the egg carton, in the centre. Poke the pipe cleaner attached to the first egg compartment through the hole at the back of the egg carton and bend it over on the inside, so that the body is attached to the head.
7. Cut a piece of ribbon to 90cm long and thread one end through the hole at the back of the egg carton. Tie a knot in the end inside of the box to prevent it from coming out. Thread the ribbon through the holes in the third egg compartment along and tie a knot. Thread the remaining ribbon through the last egg compartment at the end and tie a knot again.
8. Take your green, yellow and purple card and cut six rectangles 7cm by 5cm, two of each colour. Using double sided tape, stick the top of each rectangle on the inside at the front of each upside-down egg compartment. Cut the card sticking out into strips and use your fingers to curl up the ends.
9. Cut a piece of gold ribbon 8cm long. Stick one end on the front of the lid of the egg carton on the inside, and the other end to the front of the base on the inside, so that when the puppet is held, the mouth doesn’t open fully.

Top Tip

Paint the egg cartons white before you paint them red, to make the colour more vibrant!