Lunar New Year Zodiac Wheel

The Lunar New Year wheel holds the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac in their traditional order, for classroom activities, party games and anyone who wants to spin rather than look up their birth year.

All twelve zodiac animals are on the wheel, in the order of the traditional cycle from Rat to Pig. Each one stands for a year, and the cycle repeats every twelve years.

Teachers use the wheel when Lunar New Year comes round in late January or February. Spin, and the class talks about the animal that comes up: the story of the race that set the order, which animal won and how, and which classmates were born in that animal's year. Younger children can draw the animal or act it out for the others to guess. Spin again and you have the next activity.

At a party, the wheel works as a quick game. Each guest spins, gets an animal, and has to do an impression of it, or tell everyone which famous person they think was born in that year. You can also use it to give out red envelopes or small prizes in random order, which avoids the question of who gets theirs first.

The animal for a birth year depends on the date of Lunar New Year that year, which moves between late January and mid-February, so someone born in January or early February usually belongs to the previous year's animal. Check the exact date before you tell anyone their sign. To go through the whole class with no repeats, put names on the classroom spinner and turn on no-repeat rounds.