Mid-Autumn Crafts And Activities To Do With Your Kids

Get into the (festive) spirit of things with these fun activities! Keep those little hands and big minds busy with these easy Mid-Autumn crafts.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of our favourites in Hong Kong, from picnicking in the evening with sight of the full moon to trying out delicious mooncakes every year and overall spending quality time with the family has a warm feeling to it. To get in the festive mood, we’re sharing some quick and easy DIY Mid-Autumn crafts to try at home with the kids!

Read More: Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival In Hong Kong 2024 – Mooncakes, Lanterns And More

Get Inspired For Your Mid-Autumn Crafts

When you think about Mid-Autumn crafts, naturally you will think of lanterns. Find out where the most beautiful lantern displays are this year and take your child there for some inspiration. After that, you will be happy to come home and try to recreate some yourselves!

• A must-visit is the lantern display at Victoria Park.
• Stroll through Lee Tung Avenue to gawk in amazement at the intricately decorated lanterns.

Check all the fun and family-friendly activities that are on this Mid-Autumn festival and pick and choose where to draw your inspiration from.

Read More: Weekend Planner – Activities And Events For Kids And Families In Hong Kong

Mid-Autumn Crafts: Paper Lanterns

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of the Mid-Autumn Festival is lanterns. The one from Origami-Club is the most basic and easiest lantern design available and takes less than 10 minutes to make. This activity gives kids a great sense of accomplishment and using the scissors confidently definitely helps with their fine motor skills.

To make this lantern, you’ll need:

• A square piece of paper
• A pair of scissors
• Glue or tape
• A string

Read More: 100 Things To Do In Hong Kong With Kids And Families

Mid-Autumn Crafts: Bead Lantern

The more you make, the more ideas you get, and that’s when we thought of looking beyond paper and making a lantern with the Pyssla Beads that we recently bought from IKEA. These beads are great for developing hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. They’ll also keep your little ones busy for hours. Ours look so pretty as a decoration, proudly hanging up in our house!

Read More: The Best Art Supply Stores In Hong Kong – Where To Buy Materials For Arts & Crafts

Mid-Autumn Crafts: Egg Carton Dragon

Eggs are an absolute favourite and essential in our home. Not just for eating, but also for the wonderful cartons they come in. These weirdly shaped boxes are very versatile when it comes to craftwork and it feels good to be using materials that would otherwise just end up in the trash! We really enjoyed making this easy and fun egg-carton dragon from I Heart Crafty Things. The best part? Dragon designs are always useful when it comes to celebrating all Chinese festivals, so save this idea for your Chinese New Year craft activities as well!

To make the egg-carton dragon, you’ll need:

• Egg carton, preferably cardboard as it’s easier to cut through
• Glue
• Stapler
• Acrylic paint colour of your choice, for this we went with red
• Paintbrush
• Googly eyes
• Glitter
• Decorative paper

Mid-Autumn Crafts: Playdough Mooncakes

Mooncakes and the mid-autumn festival are synonymous with each other. Playing with playdough has a calming effect on children and helps improve their pre-writing skills. We didn’t have mooncake stencils like the ones on chalkacademy, so we decided to improvise and add our own touch to it.

Read More: 7 Messy Play Ideas – Get Your Kids’ Hands Dirty With Sensory Play

Mid-Autumn Crafts: Paper Plate Drum

We weren’t quite finished yet. Last but not least – kids love noise (no matter how much of a headache it gives us!). No festival is complete without some noise and music. Though this is normally popular during Chinese New Year, we thought we could make a Chinese drum from spare paper plates. Ideas like these make us realise that we don’t need to spend money on expensive materials. All we need is the imagination to use what’s available at home. A fun activity and an important lesson in frugality: win-win!

Editor’s note: “Mid-Autumn Crafts And Activities To Do With Your Kids” originally published in September 2019 an most recently updated in September 2024 by Sassy Mama.