Inside: From dragon science to dragon art, there are many wonderful ways to play and learn with mighty dragons.
Dragon-themed activities are fun any time of the year, but they are especially great on and around Dragon Day, January 16th.
Legends about dragons date back to ancient times and can be found throughout the centuries across many diverse cultures around the world.
Dragon Day has only been around for fifteen years, but its popularity is spreading fast because so many people (and not just children) love dragons. Check out a list of free dragon activities on January 16th at your local library and cultural center, and you will be surprised.
But you don’t have to go out to have fun on Dragon Day. You can breeze a little fire into your January without leaving your home.
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What’s a dragon science without a bit of fire? How about green fire? Our readers say “yes” to that. Our green fire experiment is on page 1 of Google search for “dragon experiments,” and it has over five thousand saves on Pinterest.
Want to make a black fire dragon-serpent instead? Check out this one.
But if fire is not for you, how about a foaming dragon science experiment? And if the temperature outside is not too wild, we highly recommend this soda bottle explosion experiment. (We returned to our nearby store three times to buy more soda because we wanted to keep doing the soda explosions!)
Every scientist needs a good snack. And if you are celebrating dragon day, the snack has to be shaped like a dragon, of course.
We are very proud of our healthy dragon crackers. They are full of protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Did I mention that they are delicious, too?
Spark your kids’ interest in engineering with this amazing dragon made out of popsicle sticks, screws, and nuts. The most amazing thing about this dragon is that it really moves. But if this project is too advanced for you, try paper engineering. We had hours of fun with this kit.
So many dragon books, so little time. We put together a list of our favorite dragon books for you a while ago. Since then, we have added a new passion to our dragon collection. The Wings of Fire! There are 12 books in the series, and my older two kids have re-read all of them multiple times.
When my kids are not reading dragon books, they scribble their dragon notes in their dragon notebooks. So cute!
I don’t know if there’s anything more satisfying for dragon lovers who are also LEGO enthusiasts than taking a pile of LEGOs and turning them into dragons.
There’s something about illusions that’s intriguing and fun at the same time. Do you agree? Last year, I wrote a guest post about a fun optical illusion children can make at home.
This dragon Illusion is pretty wonderful. Just print it out, fold it, and voila: it works.
It took a while for my kids to get interested in origami. I created many different animals for them over the years, but they didn’t find the motivation to learn how to do origami until they got the Star Wars Star Starfighters kit and Star Wars origami book.
My tips for success? Master it on your own first, and only then invite your kids to join you. Have your kids stand next to you (not across from you) so that your left is their left and have them copy you one step at a time. Before you know it, your kids will be even better at origami than you are.
Is it snowing outside where you are? Make a snow dragon.
If your kids are into dragons, they will probably find dragon crafts fun. Our favorites are Pipe cleaner dragons and Dragon bookmarks. We just found this cute dragon puppet on Red Ted Art but didn’t try it yet.
Need more inspiration? Check out 10 dragon crafts for kids from The Crafty Crow.
Dragon eggs hunt is our favorite. We first played this game on my daughter’s last birthday. It was a great hit with all of the children. First, the kids collected all the hidden eggs by following the clues; then they put the dragons pieces together like a puzzle.
If there are a few of you available to play outside Catch a Dragon Tail is a fun game. Everyone holds hands. The last player is a tail. The goal is for the first player in the chain (the head) to catch the tail. It’s not possible most of the time because of the players in the middle who whip “the tail” away.
Double, double, toil and trouble… We first learned the power of magic spells when one of my kids came down with a mysterious case of bad moods. To make him feel better, my older kids decided to throw together a pot of cardboard pieces with water and glitter. They reassured him that they had enchanted the pot with a happiness spell and all he had to do was dip his hand in it. Miraculously, he was cured on the spot. Khe-khe…
We came up with this silly Dragon Spell activity recently and had a lot of fun with it.
Looking for more spells? This Bubble spell to release challenging emotions is pure genius. Need a lost LEGO spell or good night spell? Just challenge your kids to come up with something! Or try this book of magic spells.