Dragon Boat Festival Activities for Kids: DIY Zhongzi, Fragrant Sachets & Chinese Learning Fun

This Dragon Boat Festival, I wanted to create something more than just a craft. I wanted to create an immersive Chinese learning experience—one that children could see, touch, smell, cut, glue, sew, and create.

From DIY zongzi to fragrant sachets, these activities naturally engaged all five senses while introducing Dragon Boat Festival traditions in a playful, hands-on way.

Coloring, cutting, sewing, smelling, wrapping, tying, writing, gluing—a huge compilation of skills that make language learning multidimensional.

We began with coloring zongzi.

I left out the coloring pencils, explained what the pictures represented, and then let my son take over. Before I knew it, he was creating rainbow zongzi.

When it came time to cut them out and glue them onto colored paper, I asked what color background he wanted.

"Green," he said.

So green it was.

Sure, we didn't place the Chinese characters for Dragon Boat Festival in the correct order. At this stage, he doesn't recognize those characters yet anyway. The goal wasn't perfection. The goal was confidence.

I want my child to feel that his work won't constantly be corrected. I want him to have opportunities to create simply for the sake of creating.

Sometimes the process matters more than the outcome.

After our first Dragon Boat Festival activity, we moved on to the next project.

One thing I loved about all of these activities was that they gave children freedom to choose and make. There was no right or wrong way to do them.

Since my son has recently become interested in tracing, I made some Chinese number tracing cards on index cards. He immediately got to work.

He carefully traced each number and was incredibly proud when he finished. Then, to my surprise, he started tracing all the squares around the numbers too.

Instead of rushing him along, I simply watched.

Allowing children to fully immerse themselves in an activity is something I think is absolutely essential.

Once he finished tracing, I showed him how to attach the little number labels to each card. He immediately wanted to do it himself.

I love involving children as early as possible in the process. First he traced the numbers. Then he matched the numbers. And now he had created a set of labels that we would later use in our Dragon Boat Festival zongzi pretend play activity.

The learning naturally built upon itself.

One of my favorite Dragon Boat Festival traditions is making fragrant sachets.

This year I made them two different ways: one using a ready-made DIY kit with my students and another handmade version with my son at home.

My goal wasn't simply to make a craft.

I wanted the children to experience Dragon Boat Festival through all five senses.

Step 1: Create Your Own Herbal Blend

Most fragrant sachet kits come with pre-packaged herbs already prepared.

This time, I wanted the children to experience the ingredients themselves.

I selected four kid-friendly herbs:

• Mugwort (艾草)
• Osmanthus (桂花)
• Rose (玫瑰)
• Lemongrass (香茅)

We smelled each herb and tried to guess what it was.

Then we tasted osmanthus tea, which was a huge hit with the kids.

Finally, each child created their own herbal blend using a tea bag.

They loved smelling their own custom recipes and comparing them with friends.

Step 2: Sewing the Sachet

The DIY kits came with pre-punched holes, making them much easier for children to sew.

Even so, there were still a few challenges.

The thread would occasionally come loose after a few stitches, requiring the children to tie it again. Starting and ending the stitching securely also proved a little tricky for my Grade 2 students.

Another challenge came when it was time to attach the bells. The needle had to be removed and the thread manually fed through the tiny hole in each bell.

It was a great fine motor activity, but definitely the most challenging part of the project.

Step 3: Filling the Sachet

Once the sewing was nearly complete, we inserted the herbal tea bags and added a little stuffing to make the sachets puffier.

After a few final stitches, we tied a loop at the top so they could be carried or displayed.

Final Step: Decorating

Surprisingly, this ended up being the easiest part.

The children simply taped on their decorative pieces and—voilà!—their fragrant sachets were complete.

We even had one extra kit, so the students helped make one for my son.

I know he'll treasure it.

For my own version, I wanted to stay true to the festival theme, so I decided to create a zongzi-shaped sachet.

It was surprisingly simple.

I first made a paper template to test the shape, then cut the pieces from felt and hand-stitched them together, leaving one side open.

My son chose which herbs to include, and we stuffed the sachet together.

After placing the tea bag inside, I stitched the final side closed and added a little extra stuffing to make it fuller.

To finish it off, I grabbed my glue gun and added googly eyes, eyebrows, a smile, and some pink blush.

Instant personality.

It was such a fun project to make together.

While I stitched, my son worked on some Chinese number activities using zongzi ingredient cards. I love projects where we're both fully engaged and creating side by side.

Those ingredient cards weren't just for tracing practice.

They became part of our next Dragon Boat Festival activity: pretend play zongzi making.

Originally, I considered using real ingredients and making edible zongzi together.

But honestly?

Gathering all the ingredients and learning how to properly wrap and tie zongzi felt like a lot for a preschooler.

This pretend play version felt much more manageable and reusable.

Maybe when he's older we'll make real ones together.

For now, simple and enjoyable wins every time.

For our zongzi ingredients, I prepared:

• Egg yolks using large yellow pom-poms (which my son helped choose at the craft store)
• Real rice from our pantry
• Zhongzi leaves cut from green felt
• Mushrooms cut from brown felt
• Dried shrimp cut from orange felt

The stewed pork was my favorite.

While browsing the craft store, I spotted some small wooden cubes that instantly reminded me of pork belly.

I brought them home and painted layers of acrylic paint to create the different sections of meat, fat, and tendon.

Because let's be honest—a good piece of braised pork needs all three.

Part of this project was for my son, but part of it was for me too. It was a chance to stretch my own creativity and enjoy making something together.

Once everything was ready, we arranged the ingredients on a tray with the labels my son had helped assemble.

We made a zongzi together and tied it with twine.

First, we formed a cone shape with the zongzi leaf. Then we added the ingredients one by one.

After that?

We simply tied everything together the best we could.

Real zongzi are folded into a tetrahedron shape (somehow I still remember that from geometry class), but ours were a little more... creative.

And that's okay.

The tongs and spoons helped strengthen fine motor skills, while naming each ingredient gave us opportunities to practice Chinese vocabulary naturally.

Most importantly, it was fun.

And that's what I want my son to remember.

Originally, I considered using real ingredients and making edible zongzi together.

But honestly?

Gathering all the ingredients and learning how to properly wrap and tie zongzi felt like a lot for a preschooler. This pretend play version felt much more manageable and reusable. Maybe when he's older we'll make real ones together. For now, simple and enjoyable wins every time.

From rainbow-colored zongzi and Chinese tracing cards to fragrant herbs and pretend play cooking, this year's Dragon Boat Festival became a true five-senses learning experience.

We colored.

We cut.

We sewed.

We smelled.

We tasted.

We glued.

We played.

And along the way, we explored Chinese culture in a way that felt meaningful, memorable, and fun.

So that's a wrap.

No pun intended.

Want to make your own pretend play zongzi set? Download the printable ingredient labels below and pair them with felt, pom-poms, rice, or whatever materials you have on hand. Don't see an ingredient you want? Simply grab a piece of cardstock and create your own labels. That's exactly what I did for the dried shrimp! The beauty of pretend play is that you can make it your own.