8 Year of the Horse Activity Ideas for Chinese New Year 2026
Chinese New Year begins on Tuesday 17 February 2026, and this year belongs to the Horse… think enthusiastic, speedy, strong, full of energy and ready for adventure! A perfect match for most children we know!
Chinese New Year is a brilliant festival to share with children. It’s full of rich stories, fascinating animals, delicious food and colourful traditions; making it a lovely way to explore another culture and how families celebrate around the world.
Below are eight (a lucky number in Chinese culture) fun, easy Chinese New Year activities for children you can try at home, in the classroom or for home education. Pick one or two that fit your day and enjoy stepping into the Year of the Horse!
You may also be interested in: 8 ways to learn about Chinese New Year blog
The Story of the Horse in the Chinese Zodiac
According to Chinese folklore, the Jade Emperor wanted a way to measure time, so he invited the animals to take part in a great race. The first twelve animals to cross a wide river would earn a place in the Chinese zodiac, with a different animal representing each year.
Horse was strong, fast and full of determination. It galloped confidently through the race, using its energy and stamina to push forward. As Horse neared the finish line, it was set to take sixth place… but Snake had secretly been hiding on Horse’s hoof! Snake slithered ahead at the last moment and stole sixth place.
Horse finished seventh, but its effort and spirit were impossible to miss. The story is a lovely way to talk with children about perseverance, resilience and keeping going, even when things do not turn out quite as expected.
Horses in the Chinese zodiac are often linked with energy, independence and enthusiasm, making the Year of the Horse a great time to celebrate movement, creativity and confidence with children.
8 Horse-Themed Chinese New Year activities for children:
These Year of the Horse activities for children are designed for primary-aged learners, from EYFS through to KS2.
- Recreate the Great Zodiac River Race – Act out the Chinese zodiac story, a simple role-play game
- Gallop, Leap, Lantern Dash – A fun Year of the Horse movement game
- Design a Fire Horse – A Chinese New Year craft using Fire Horse colours and patterns
- Hoofbeat Rhythms – Make music using horse movements and rhythm patterns
- Chinese New Year Parade – Create parade props for your Chinese New Year celebration
- The Year of the Horse Strength Stable – A simple activity for exploring strengths and fresh starts
- Where Would Your Horse Take You? – A drawing and mapping activity inspired by Chinese New Year journeys
- Fire Horse Lantern Window – A calm Chinese New Year craft to decorate your home or classroom
1. Recreate the Great Zodiac River Race
Now that children know the story of the zodiac race, bring it to life through play.
Lay a scarf or towel on the floor to make a “river”, then gather a few toys, counters, LEGO figures or paper animals to represent the zodiac. Line them up at the starting bank and retell the race together, moving each animal across the river as the story unfolds.
Talk about how the animals crossed in different ways. Rat sneaks a lift on Ox, Tiger swims strongly, Rabbit hops across stones, Pig stops to have a snack, Horse gallops through the water… and Snake hides quietly, waiting for the perfect moment. You might also chat about what helped Horse in the race – speed, stamina and not giving up.
Once you’ve played the real version, let children become the storyteller and change the ending. Maybe Horse spots Snake this time. Perhaps Dragon dries the river with a blast of fire. Maybe Horse jumps stepping stones and wins the race. Children can enjoy taking the lead and seeing how many different ways the race could unfold.
Claim your free Chinese New Year activity pack, which includes a Great Race activity to help children learn the story and put all twelve zodiac animals in the right order.
2. Horse movement game: Gallop, Leap, Lantern Dash!
Horses in the Chinese zodiac are known for their energy, stamina and love of movement so this high-energy game is a great way for children to channel their Horse spirit!
Put on some upbeat music with a Chinese New Year feel and call out the movements below. Children switch actions each time you shout a new one and freeze when you call “Stable!”
Try these moves:
- Gallop skip or hop across the room
- Leap the river jump up into the air
- Lantern trot trot while pretending to carry a glowing lantern
- Impatient pony shake heads, swish imaginary tails or neigh
- FIRE HORSE! Fast, fiery movements
- Parade prance march proudly like you’re leading a parade
- Dressage dash prance and pose like a dancing horse
Short bursts of this game are great fun, especially on rainy February afternoons.
Why not warm up on Busy Things with PE with Dog and Cat before you start?
Or, children could have a go at creating their own Chinese-style soundtrack using the composing music games.
Fancy an extra challenge? Children can create an instructions poster or movement cards for the game using our art tools.
3. Design a Lucky Fire Horse
2026 is a Fire Horse year. The Chinese zodiac animals repeat every 12 years, and each time they return they are paired with one of five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water). This year’s element is Fire, which is often linked with bright colours, bold ideas and lots of energy!
Grab some pens, crayons or paint, anything red, orange, yellow or gold and scraps of paper or tissue for fiery manes if you have them, then get creative…
Children can:
- Draw or paint their own Horse
- Give it a glowing fire mane and tail
- Add patterns, symbols or Chinese New Year lucky colours
- Older children might add a short sentence describing their Fire Horse, such as brave, speedy or full of spark and give it a name.
There’s no right or wrong result here. It’s all about colour, character and personality.
If your child sometimes worries about getting drawings “right”, this is a great chance to focus on the joy of drawing rather than the end result. You might also find this helpful: How to help your child love drawing
On Busy Things try the Chinese zodiac colouring activity.
Or, children can design their own Horse using our painting tools.
4. Hoofbeat Rhythms
Music and movement are a big part of Chinese New Year celebrations, and horses are never still for long, so this activity brings the Year of the Horse to life through sound!
Turn Horse movement into rhythm by clapping, tapping or stomping:
- Walk slow steady beats
- Trot medium even beats
- Gallop fast uneven beats
- Fire Horse dramatic rolling clap or drum roll
Let children copy your patterns, then create their own hoofbeat rhythms for everyone to follow. A saucepan and wooden spoon turn this into a kitchen percussion band in seconds!
If children enjoy this activity, they’ll love exploring our collection of music and rhythm games on Busy Things.
5. Join a Chinese New Year Parade
Parades and processions are a huge part of Chinese New Year, with lion and dragon dances, drums and music filling the streets. This activity lets children join in the celebrations at home with a Year of the Horse twist.
Make a simple parade prop. Children could choose to make:
- A mini flag or banner with Horse patterns
- A streamer “tail” to swish behind you
- A shaker for clip-clopping hoof sounds
Put on music and parade around the house, classroom or garden. Try marching proudly, prancing to the beat or switching between a slow trot and a fast gallop.
If you spot a lion or dragon dance locally, children could take their banner along or wave it while watching. You can learn more about Chinese New Year celebrations in our 8 ways to learn about Chinese New Year blog.
On Busy Things children can use our art tools to design their banner or flag before recreating it with craft materials.
6. The Year of the Horse Strength Stable
Chinese New Year is often seen as a fresh start, which makes it a nice moment to pause and think about the strengths children already use and how they might use them a little more as the year goes on.
Set up your stable: Draw a simple stable with a few stalls. Label each stall with a Horse strength, for example:
- Brave
- Determined
- Hard-working
- Kind or sociable
Fill the stables: For each stable, ask children to think of one small, real-life example. They could draw a picture or write a short sentence for each one. This works really well as a family activity too, with everyone filling in their own stable. For example:
- Brave – trying something new or joining in a game even if it feels a bit scary
- Determined – giving something a go before saying “I can’t”
- Hard-working – sticking with a tricky puzzle or piece of homework instead of giving up
- Kind – helping a friend or inviting someone to play
Add a red envelope – If you’re feeling extra creative, why not make a 3D stable to post red envelopes into? Red envelopes are traditionally used at Chinese New Year to mark fresh starts. You could write the strengths or goals onto slips of paper, pop them into red envelopes and place them in the stable.
Keep it visible – Put the stable somewhere you’ll see it over the coming weeks. It’s a gentle reminder to notice these strengths when they show up..
On Busy Things explore the wellbeing and feelings activities, which support children in recognising emotions, confidence and resilience.
You might also like some of our children’s mental health blogs:
- Building resilience in children: a parent’s guide
- Mindful activities for kids (including free mindful colouring)
7. Where Would Your Horse Take You?
Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, is closely linked with journeys and reunions. In fact, it triggers the world’s largest annual movement of people, known as Chunyun or the Spring Festival travel rush, as families travel home to celebrate together (Recent Spring Festival travel periods have seen billions of passenger journeys over around 40 days!).
That makes this a lovely conversation opportunity to explore family, places that feel important and spending time together.
Ask your child to imagine they’re riding their Fire Horse into the new year.
Where would they like to go?
It could be:
- A grandparent’s house
- A favourite park or beach
- Somewhere they visit often
- Or somewhere they’d love to go one day
Create the journey
On paper:
- Draw a simple line map from home to the destination
- Add one or two places or things the Horse might pass on the way
- Draw the Horse travelling along the route
Younger children can draw and talk it through. Older children can add labels or a short caption.
On Busy Things children can use the drawing tools to create their journey digitally.
For inspiration, the How to Train Your Dragon activities include a simple map-style drawing tool (originally used to create an island inspired by Berk) which works just as well for plotting an imaginary journey. Children can add landmarks, natural features and labels as they go.
You could also use Busy Paint and Publisher templates to annotate maps of the UK, Europe, Australia or the world, depending on your child’s age and interest.
8. Fire Horse Lantern Window Display
Lanterns are one of the most recognisable sights during Chinese New Year. They’re used to decorate homes and streets and are often linked with welcoming light, warmth and good things into the year ahead.
Create a Fire Horse lantern picture by:
- Drawing or colouring a Horse silhouette
- Adding flame shapes, zigzags or manes using red, orange or yellow paper
- Sticking it onto card or paper
Place it in a window so it catches the light during the day or glows gently in the evening.
Children might add their name, the year, a favourite Horse trait or a picture of something they are excited about this year.
On Busy Things children can decorate Chinese New Year lanterns and print them out for their window display. They could also use the art tools to create Chinese New Year art such as their Fire Horse.
Ready to celebrate the Year of the Horse?
We hope these ideas help you enjoy celebrating the Year of the Horse with your children. Pick an activity that fits your child’s mood and the time you have, whether that’s a burst of movement, a calm craft or a story-based activity to enjoy together.
If you’d like more support, Busy Things is full of Chinese New Year games, creative activities, music and puzzles for primary-aged children, all designed to feel fun while supporting learning along the way. Everything is ready to use, with no planning needed.
You can also download our free Chinese New Year activity pack, which includes hands-on activities to help children explore the festival and learn the story of the Great Zodiac Race.
Whether you’re celebrating at home, in the classroom or through home education, we hope these ideas help you enjoy stepping into the Year of the Horse together.
More Chinese New Year Activities on Busy Things
Busy Things is packed with Chinese New Year games, creative activities and puzzles for primary-aged children, all designed to encourage learning through laughter and play…
Children can use our paint tools to create a spectacular Chinese New Year Fireworks display!
Children can design Chinese dragons and lions, experimenting with colour and patterns.
Children will love to watch their puzzles come to life in Tangraminals! Our version of the ancient Chinese puzzle of Tangrams.
Chinese Zodiac colouring: Children can discover the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac and give them a colourful makeover.
Decorate Chinese lanterns for the lantern festival. Children can use colour, textures and patterns to decorate their lantern.
You can try all the Chinese New Year themed learning activities on Busy Things completely FREE!
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We’d love to see how you celebrate. If you try any of these Year of the Horse activities, do tag us in your Chinese New Year creations.