Lion dances are boisterous and fun, attracting plenty of attention and crowds. Why not hold your own lion dance at home with this lion dance craft that you can make together with the kids.
Lion Dance Craft
Using simple household items, you can create your own lion dance model that you can even make dance about.
For this lion dance craft, you will need three paper cups along with yarn and simple stationery and colouring materials. We also have a template that is available to Little Day Out’s eNewsletter subscribers below.
How to Make a Lion Dance Puppet that Can Actually Dance
Follow the steps below to create your own lion dance puppet.
Start with three paper cups. We used 7oz cups. Two of these will make up the body while the third will form the head.
Punch two holes at the bottom of two cups. Parents should do this step. These holes should line up so that you can thread the yarn through them to form the body. Also punch a third hole on the side of each cup.
On the third cup, which will be the lion’s head, punch three holes – two near the rim of the cup and one closer to the base.
Then string the yarn through the cups as illustrated in the picture above. The yarn will connect the cups forming the body and the head together.
The yarn should come out from the cups forming the body, so that the entire model can be suspended in place.
You can also use a single piece of adhesive tape to connect the two body cups. The tape acts as a hinge that allows the body to move and yet retain some structure.
Next, print out Little Day Out’s Lion Dance Craft template. Then, use your creativity and flair to decorate and colour the template and create your very own lion.
Once coloured, cut out the head, body and legs from the template.
The coloured pieces can the be attached to the cups using adhesive tape. And there you have it – your very own lion for a lion dance!
Here is one more tip: you may find that the lion has the tendency to lean forward because of the weight of the head. To balance this out, you can simply added a coin to the rear of the lion to act as a counterweight.
Using the yarn, you can now get the lion to dance, stride about and do all sorts of stunts. The lion dance craft also serves as a nice decoration that you can hang up around the home.
Lion Dance Craft Template for Little Day Out’s eNewsletter Subscribers
We have a Lion Dance Craft Template specially for Little Day Out’s FREE weekly eNewsletter subscribers. Little Day Out’s weekly eNewsletter delivers the best ideas and news about the latest family-friendly places around Singapore.
Current eNewsletter subscribers can find it in the 29 January 2026 edition of the eNewsletter.
Not yet an eNewsletter subscriber or just want to get the template immediately? Just subscribe to Little Day Out’s eNewsletter using the form below and we will send you the Lion Dance Template that you can download and print out.
