Metal Rat New Year Painted Rocks Tutorial from Artistro

Teach your children Chinese Calendar by drawing an adorable rat as a symbol of 2020. According to Chinese Calendar 2020 is the year of the Metal rat, and the first date of the new year is not the January, 1^st but January, 25^th!

For this project you will need:

• 4 rocks approximately the same size
• White, black, red, pink paints.
• Brush
• Black marker

Let’s learn how to paint this adorable symbol of the 2020!

1. Take a rock from a kit. If you use found stones don’t forget to clean and dry them.

2. Follow step-by-step instruction to draw a rat. First, draw a head. To make grey color – mix black and white paints.

3. Add ears and body outline.

4. Color the body, add some shades with darker grey color. Fill ears with pink and draw a red nose.

5. Use black marker to outline the rat. Add eyes and rat whiskers.

Fun facts about Chinese New Year.

• The festival date changes every year. This is because it follows lunar calendar, based on the movement of the moon.
• Chinese New Year starts a new animal's zodiac year. Each of the 12 years is defined by an animal sign: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. 2020 is the Year of the Rat and 2021 is the Year of the Ox.
• The celebration lasts for 15 days till Lantern Festival. The peak time of the entire celebration is on Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the lunar new year. 
• One sixth of the world’s people celebrate it. It is not only celebrated in Mainland China, but also observed in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and some other Asian countries as well as Chinatowns around the world.
• Everyone wears new clothes.Kids are especially happy to show their beautiful new clothes to their little friends and others.
• The celebration decorations are mostly in red. Houses are decorated with red lanterns, and red paper cuttings; city streets are lit up by red lanterns; and numerous people are dressed in red. This is because red in Chinese culture is the symbol of happiness, wealth and prosperity, and can ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
• Everyone gets one year older. It is like a national birthday and it doesn’t matter when you were born. For kids, it means they are able to do more things on their own.