Chinese New Year Dragons (1st/2nd)

Not sure how this one fell through the cracks.. but this is a lesson I taught with a couple classes (1st and 2nd grade) in January when we were coming back from winter break. There were a couple rotations where my schedule was a little weird and we needed a good 2-day project.
We began by looking at a powerpoint which introduced students to the Chinese New Year celebration (this year Chinese New Year fell on February 10th). Students saw a variety of images of the celebration which prompted a discussion of the symbolism of the various Chinese New Year icons we saw (for example - the dragon). We also watched a short video clip of a giant handmade dragon dancing in one of the parades (it even "breathed" smoke which the kids LOVED).
Students then created their own collaged New Year dragons! On a piece of black construction paper, students glued down a piece of yarn. Then using pieces of scrap construction paper, students began adding to the body of their dragons. *Emphasis in this lesson was placed on creating a symmetrical dragon (which was review for my 2nd graders). After gluing down their paper, students also had the option of using construction paper crayons to add additional details to their artwork (including trying to copy the Chinese character for "luck" which I projected onto the board).