Create your very own colourful tiger mask at home, with the help of artist Yu-Chen Wang.

Welcome to the Year of the Tiger!

We’ve put together this step by step guide to help you make a tiger mask to celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Tiger. Once you’re done, head to the bottom of the page to learn more about the Chinese zodiac.

What you'll need

To transform yourself into a brave and kind tiger, you’ll need:

• One piece of orange A4 paper
• One piece of red A4 paper
• One piece of black A4 paper
• One piece of white A4 paper
• Scissors
• A glue stick
• A green marker pen
• A black marker pen
• Elastic string or a large elastic band
• A gold or silver pen.

1. Make your tiger's head

1. Fold the orange paper in half.
2. Mark the distance between your eyes onto the centre of the paper.
3. Ask an adult to help you to cut two small holes where you’ve marked the spots for the eyes.
4. Fold the paper in half again and cut a semicircle to make the shape of the tiger’s face.
5. Cut two small holes at each side of the tiger’s face. An adult might need to help you. You’ll use these later to attach the elastic band.

2. Make your tiger's cheeks

1. Fold the white paper in half and cut out two flat ovals.
   Tip: keep the rest of the white paper – you’ll need it later!
2. Stick them to the mask to create your tiger’s puffy cheeks.
3. Cut the orange paper around the white oval shapes to make give your tiger’s chin shape.
4. Draw lots of small dots on the cheeks.

3. Give your tiger eyes and a nose

1. Cut a diamond shape from the red paper and stick it between the tiger’s eyes to make its nose.
2. Cut a triangle from the orange paper to stick on top of the red note.
3. Cut two leaf-shapes with a point at one end from the leftover white paper.
4. Glue the leaf-shapes onto your tiger’s face to give it some eyes. These should cover the holes you originally made for the eyes, so you’ll need to re-cut the holes again.
5. Use your marker pens to draw some detail on the eyes and nose

4. Make your tiger's ears

1. Cut two orange semi circles and two white semi circles which are slightly smaller. Stick the white ones onto the orange ones to make the ears.
2. Glue the ears to the mask.

5. Give your tiger whiskers and stripes

1. Cut out two thin crescents from the remainder of your white paper and make some small cuts along one edge. Stick these down to create the tiger’s furry cheeks.
2. Cut some stripes from your black paper and stick them down on your mask. You’ll want to trim the extra black paper from the outside of the mask.
3. Time for the whiskers! Cut six thin stripes from the white paper and wrap them around a pen to make them curly.
4. Glue the whiskers onto your tiger’s face.

6. Finishing touches

1. The Tiger is known as the king of all beasts in China. Using your gold or silver pen, write the Chinese character 王, which means “the king” Add your own good luck messages to the tiger’s stripes. What words will you write?
2. Tie the elastic string or elastic band through the holes you made at the beginning to finish off your mask.

All done!

It’s time to transform yourself into a strong, brave tiger!

What is the Year of the Tiger?

There are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac which give their names to each year in a repeated cycle. Can you work out which one’s missing from our list?

• Rat
• Ox
• Tiger
• Rabbit
• Dragon
• Snake
• Horse
• Sheep
• Monkey
• Rooster
• Dog
• Which animal comes last? Discover the answer at the bottom of the page*

People born in the year of each animal are said to have different characteristics.

Why not have a look online to discover what animal year you were born in? What about the rest of your family?

It’s said that people born in the Year of the Tiger are good leaders. They’re brave and confident. Do you know anyone born in the Year of the Tiger?

*Answer: Pig