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Lunar New Year 2024: Get Kids Ready for The Year of the Dragon

Photo of “A Kid’s Guide to the Chinese Zodiac” standing among crystals, flowers, and a decorative white starburst, in front of a pink and green iridescent background.

Lunar New Year 2024 begins on February 10, 2024! Celebrate The Year of the Dragon with young mystics with some help from A Kid’s Guide to the Chinese Zodiac: Animal Horoscopes, Legendary Myths, and Practical Uses for Ancient Wisdom by Aaron Hwang.

This kid-friendly version of Aaron’s previously-published The Chinese Zodiac: And Other Paths to Luck, Riches & Prosperity is a charming, beautifully-illustrated introduction to eastern astrology. In addition to profiles of each of the 12 zodiac animals, young mystics will learn about the 5 zodiac elements plus auspicious and challenging pairings and combinations, with sidebars on Chinese culture and myth throughout.

Read on to learn more about Dragon’s energy and how kids, tweens, and teens can harness this fantastic power for a creative and fun-filled year!

Get Kids Ready for The Year of the Dragon

Dragons are creatures of fantasy and limitless power. They scoff at gravity and chafe under rules. People born in the year of the dragon tend to be leaders and innovators, willing to embark on projects that would make others fold. As we enter this year of incredible power, have the kids in your life embrace the dragon energy by doing these creative projects!

Write Every Morning

Have kids pick up a notebook and pen and write every morning. The point here is not to follow the rules. This isn’t a time for learning grammar or practicing verb tenses. Have kids unleash their inner dragon by writing down whatever comes to their mind first thing in the morning. Emphasizing that it doesn’t have to follow any rules is a great way to help them access their inner creativity and fly free and proud!

Interior art from "A Kid's Guide to the Chinese Zodiac" showing the elements surrounding a yin-yang symbol

Visit a New Place

The spirit of the dragon is one of adventure and seeking. Have kids go somewhere new to unlock a different perspective. This can be traveling to a different city as a family, or something as simple as taking a different route home. Have them take note of what feels different about this change in routine, and what excites them about it.

Read More Widely

It is said that the Chinese Dragon is made from the strengths of all the other animals in the Zodiac put together: Rat’s whiskers, Ox’s horn, Tiger’s claw, Rabbit’s eyes, Snake’s body, Horse’s legs, Goat’s beard, Monkey’s wit, Rooster’s crest, Dog’s ears, and Pig’s snout. This is another way of saying that a Dragon can be anything or succeed in any field, so long as it inspires them. So take this time to introduce the kids in your life to new kinds of books and ideas. When they connect with something, have them follow that flame. Nontraditional formats are encouraged.

Interior art from "A Kid's Guide to the Chinese Zodiac" showing two children smiling and dreaming in a fantasy lanscape

Dragons in Chinese Myth

Unlike Western dragons which are often winged, fire-breathing beasts, the Chinese Dragon is an intelligent and spiritual creature often associated with water including rivers and seas, rains and storms. These dragons stride the sky as easily as the earth and thus have no need for wings.

Dive Deeper

Aaron Hwang’s The Chinese Zodiac collection, including A Kid’s Guide to the Chinese Zodiac, is on sale now wherever books are sold.

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Photo of Aaron Hwang sitting in a chair holding The Chinese Zodiac

Aaron Hwang

About the Author

Aaron Hwang is a graduate of Yale and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa.

Learn more about this author