Free Year of the Horse Spring Festival Puzzles for Kids

Spring Festival is one of the most colorful and meaningful celebrations in Chinese culture, making it a wonderful opportunity to introduce young children to Chinese language, traditions, and symbols in a fun and stress-free way. To celebrate the Year of the Horse, we’re excited to share a free set of Spring Festival puzzles for kids, thoughtfully designed for early learners aged 4 and up.

This printable puzzle pack includes three beautifully illustrated 3×3 puzzles, featuring iconic Spring Festival imagery: a cute horse, a festive lantern with the character 福, and the 福 character itself displayed on traditional red paper. With vibrant colors and culturally rich visuals, these puzzles are not only educational but also perfect for decorating classrooms, homeschool spaces, or learning corners at home.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s included, how to use these puzzles, and why they’re such a powerful learning tool for young children.

What’s Included in the Free Year of the Horse Puzzle Pack

This free printable set includes three individual puzzle pages, each carefully designed to balance fun, learning, and age-appropriate challenge.

1. Year of the Horse Puzzle

The first puzzle features a cheerful horse, the zodiac animal representing this Spring Festival year. In Chinese culture, the horse symbolizes energy, confidence, freedom, and perseverance—all wonderful traits to introduce to children.

The illustration uses bright, engaging colors and a friendly style that appeals to young learners. Once assembled, the completed picture can be displayed as festive artwork, helping children feel proud of their accomplishment while reinforcing cultural learning.

This puzzle is a great conversation starter:

• What animal is this?
• Do you know your zodiac animal?
• What sounds or movements does a horse make?

Even without reading skills, children can fully participate and learn through observation and discussion.

2. Lantern Puzzle with the Character 福

Lanterns are an iconic part of Spring Festival celebrations. They light up streets, homes, and festivals, symbolizing hope, reunion, and celebration.

This second puzzle features a traditional red lantern with the Chinese character 福 (fú) displayed prominently. 福 means good fortune, happiness, and blessings, making it one of the most commonly seen characters during Chinese New Year.

Through this puzzle, children begin to:

• Recognize that Chinese uses characters instead of letters
• Associate 福 with positive meanings
• Understand that symbols carry cultural significance

The lantern design also makes this puzzle ideal for seasonal decoration once completed.

3. 福 Character Puzzle on Red Paper

The third puzzle focuses entirely on the 福 character itself, displayed on red paper—just like the decorations Chinese families traditionally place on walls, doors, and windows during Spring Festival.

Many families hang 福 upside down, as a playful visual pun meaning “good fortune has arrived.” While younger children don’t need to understand the wordplay yet, they naturally absorb the idea that this character is important, joyful, and celebratory.

This puzzle is especially valuable for:

• Early exposure to Chinese hanzi (characters)
• Visual recognition practice
• Building familiarity before formal writing begins

By assembling the character piece by piece, children develop a stronger mental image of 福, which supports future reading and writing confidence.

Learning Through Play: More Than Just a Puzzle

These Spring Festival puzzles are designed to support play-based learning, which is especially effective for young children learning a new language or culture.

Here’s what children gain beyond puzzle skills:

Cultural Awareness

By interacting with authentic cultural symbols—horses, lanterns, and 福—children begin to understand that:

• Different cultures celebrate in different ways
• Symbols can carry meaning
• Language and tradition are connected

This is particularly valuable for:

• Bilingual families
• Chinese-learning households
• ESL / EAL classrooms
• Multicultural early education settings

Early Chinese Language Exposure

Even without formal instruction, children start to:

• Recognize Chinese characters visually
• Associate characters with meaning
• Feel comfortable seeing hanzi regularly

This low-pressure exposure lays the groundwork for future Chinese reading and writing, making later learning much smoother.

How to Use These Puzzles at Home or in the Classroom

These free puzzles are flexible and easy to use in many settings.

At Home

• Add them to a Spring Festival activity tray
• Use them as a quiet afternoon activity
• Laminate for repeated use
• Display completed puzzles as holiday decorations

In the Classroom

• Use them in a learning center
• Pair with a Spring Festival story or song
• Encourage group problem-solving
• Let students take turns assembling pieces

Extension Ideas

• Talk about where 福 is displayed at home
• Compare the horse to other zodiac animals
• Color additional Spring Festival drawings
• Match puzzles with vocabulary cards

Ready for More? Explore Our Chinese Zodiac Hanzi Practice Puzzles

If your child enjoys these puzzles and is ready for more structured character learning, you may love our Chinese Zodiac Hanzi Practice Puzzle Collection in the shop.

These paid puzzle sets are designed to:

• Help children recognize and practice zodiac characters
• Combine visual assembly with hanzi exposure
• Support step-by-step Chinese character learning
• Pair perfectly with Spring Festival themes

Each puzzle focuses on one zodiac character, making it easier for children to remember shapes, strokes, and meanings through repeated hands-on practice.

✨ You can find the full Chinese Zodiac Hanzi Practice Puzzles in our store—perfect for extending learning beyond the holiday season.

If your children enjoy the free Chinese New Year Number Puzzle, they will love our New Year Rhyme for Kids Coloring Pages. This is a more comprehensive coloring pack designed to deepen cultural understanding while introducing simple, traditional Chinese rhymes. Use them as a countdown to the New Year, a mini book, or festive classroom wall posters. Perfect for young learners and beginner Chinese students.

Ready to go beyond numbers? Our Chinese New Year Zodiac Puzzles for Kids build on the same hands-on learning style, helping children match zodiac animals with Hanzi and Pinyin while learning about Chinese New Year traditions.

🌟 Looking for more Chinese New Year activities worksheets? Check out

Free Chinese New Year Domino

Free Chinese Zodiac Coloring Book

Free Chinese New Year Word Search

Free I Spy Chinese New Year Worksheets

Free Chinese New Year Coloring Bookmarks

Chinese New Year Printable Pack

When printing:

1. Open the file (PDF or image).
2. Click Print.
3. Choose your paper size.
4. Set Scale or Size Options to:
   • “Fit to Printable Area”
   • or “Fit” / “Shrink to Fit”
   • or “Scale to Fit Page”, depending on your printer brand

This ensures:

• No design gets cut off
• Borders stay clean

Parents and teachers anywhere in the world can print this sheet easily without worrying about formatting issues.

More Worksheets and Activities

Linking these helps students stay engaged and encourages them to keep exploring your educational content.

🛒 Recommended Printable Products in Our Store

If you love this free Chinese New Year coloring worksheet, visit our store and explore printable learning bundles designed for busy teachers and parents. These are special products that save prepping time and keep kids motivated

Your purchase supports the creation of more free educational resources for teachers, parents, and learners around the world!

Download, Play, and Celebrate the Year of the Horse

Spring Festival is about joy, family, and new beginnings—and learning can be part of that celebration. With these free Year of the Horse Spring Festival puzzles, children can explore Chinese culture, develop important skills, and create something beautiful at the same time.

Download the puzzles, gather the scissors, and let the learning (and celebrating) begin. 🧧🐎

TERMS OF USE

All activity images and printables on this site are free to download and use for personal, classroom, and group setting. However, you may not claim them as your own, modify them, or redistribute them as your own work.

If you would like to share these resources, please link to this page, not to the direct download file or image itself. Your shares are always appreciated!

Thank you for respecting these guidelines and supporting the work that goes into creating these free learning materials.

If you have any comments or feedback about these Chinese printables, we’d love to hear from you—just leave a comment below. Your insights truly help us improve and create more effective, engaging worksheets for young learners. Thank you so much for your support!

You May Also Like:

• Free Year of the Horse Spring Festival Puzzles for Kids
• Free Chinese New Year Number Puzzle Worksheet
• Free Year of the Horse Coloring Pages
• Free Chinese New Year Poster
• Free Chinese New Year Board Game: A Fun and Cultural Chinese New Year Board Game for Kids (Age 5+)
• Free Chinese New Year Hanzi Find & Color Worksheet
• Free Chinese New Year Snakes and Ladders: A Fun Way to Learn Chinese Characters Through Play
• Free Snakes and Ladders Chinese Numbers 1–10 Board Game: A Fun Way to Practice Hanzi Through Play
• Free YCT Book Bingo Cards: A Fun and Effective Way to Learn Chinese Characters (YCT1 Lesson 1)
• Free Year of the Horse Bookmarks: A Fun, Meaningful Lunar New Year Coloring Activity for All Ages