Teach kids about the Chinese Zodiac Animals with these FREE printable stick puppets to colour! The printable includes pictures of the twelve animals of the Chinese horoscope, as well as the Chinese character and English word for each animal. You can make them double sided, with the animal picture on one side and the Chinese character and English word on the other side!

All twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac are included in this set: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

As 2022 is the Year of the Tiger, I’ve also added a separate file which includes only the tiger. You can use this file if you only want to make the tiger puppet with your kids instead of all the animals. You can find the download boxes at the end of the post.

For ESL classes, doing a unit on Chinese New Year is a great way to teach animal vocabulary. It’s also wonderful to introduce your young students to the colourful and spectacular celebrations of this festivity! You can use the stick puppets to teach vocabulary, act out simple dialogues or plays, or as an easy arts and crafts activity.

How to make the Chinese Zodiac Animals printable stick puppets:

Download the file. You can choose all the animals, or only the tiger. See the download boxes at the end of the post.
Print the pages onto paper or cardstock. If you choose the tiger only, you may like to print the sheet with the Chinese characters and words onto red paper, to add some colour!
Children colour their animal and cut out the discs.
Stick a craft stick to the back of one disc, then stick the other disc on top to make a double-sided stick puppet.
Alternatively, you might like to make a hanging decoration by using a loop of yarn or ribbon instead of a craft stick!

If you’d like some ideas for simple games you can play with these stick puppets, see the Farm Animals Stick Puppets post!

Download