Origami Carp Kite

 


On Children's Day in Japan, families hang out an array of colourful carp kites to symbolize their children growing up healthy, determined and strong.

Carp Kites

We had fun with these, stringing them on a chopstick for decoration and also sticking them onto a popsicle stick to decorate our plant pots!

Please note that, in the printed instructions below, the photo of our carp kites shows the kites the wrong way up - whoops! Also, one of our readers from Japan (thank you, Miyuki!) wrote in to point out:

"In Japan, we make the biggest Carp in black paper representing family which is the top of the family, then Red carp with medium sized paper, and blue carp with small paper." 

We will be redoing this craft and the photos shortly to make sure that we reflect the customs correctly.

For Chinese New Year

Goldfish are a symbol of prosperity for the Chinese and you can adapt the traditional carp kite by folding it with orange paper. Fill it with little sweets or gold coins for a special gift!

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Origami carp kite instructions

 

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