A more traditional idea is to "clean" the classroom together, in preparation for the new year. Instead of "cleaning" with a mop and broom, etc. you can organize the shelves, or have the students go through their desks or cubbies and organize them. It is activity based, and exposes students to a cultural aspect of Chinese New Year that is typically forgotten in the western education system.

I teach at the university level, but I made a 10-item, multiple-choice quiz about the holiday. I divided the students into groups of three and had them guess the right answers to the questions. We went over the questions and discovered the correct responses. Then as we ate noodles and sweets, I told the story of Nian and the origin of the holiday. They enjoyed the party and the cultural info.

I also taught all 12 zodiac animals and the students learned to ask and answer, "Ni shu shenme?" "Wo shu yang." This is rarely taught in textbooks but I have found that this is a real question people ask.

In the past, I have had students memorize one or more of the many, short New Year's children's poems. This always introduces new vocabulary and even structures that are beneficial to the students. And memorizing is good for them.

I love your ideas!
Are you able to share one of the short Chinese New Year's children's poems you use with your students?
I am always on the look out for rhymes or poems, because I find it helps in memorizing sentence structures and helps in learning new vocab. as you suggested.

I have just added a simple recipe for Chinese dumplings in the Resource section. The more teachers can infuse Chinese culture into the classroom, the more students will be motivated and supported in their learning of the language.

i designed a Chinese New Year Party which took place between 11:00--12:00 but in fact we began to prepare the food at 9:00am at JCTC.
The Chinese I students from the first block pepared the traditonal Chinese food with the help of my husband and another Chinese friend:dumpling; fried rice; stewed chicken legs and potato; fried eggs with pieces of green peppers; celery and cashew; Yesterday i have taught the students how to say them in Chinese.
The Chinese II students from the third block came to JCTC at the second block.They practised their performances in Chinese and help me to decorate the multipurposes room.
Two hosts are from Chinese II class,one introduced the performances in Chinese,the other in English.Because i invited many more audience the staff working at JCTC, the students waiting for their third block class at JCTC, the staff working at Central building, and the students' friends and relatives.(altogether around 80 including my own students)

The first performance,two students from Chinese II introduced the culture about the Chinese New Year showing some video;
The second one, three students sang Chinese song" Rang ai zhu wo jia"
The third one, the short play in Chinese directed by students themselves, i asked them to try to put some jokes in it caused by the cultural differences and trying to use what we have learned in class.
The fourth one, the two students introducing the culture of Chinese New Year offered some questions related to the New Year and asked the audience to answer. The persons who offered the right answers got the gifts from me.
The fifth one, I chose some clip of video about the Chinese New Year　ｐｅｒｆｏｒｍａｎｃｅ---- ＫＯＮＧＺＨＵ；
The sixth one, the students sang Chinese song: Zhong guo gongfu
The seventh one, the clip of video, traditonal dance____Feitian;
The eighth one, playing number games together, all the Chinese students joined in counting the numbers in Chinese and then offered the gifts to the winners.
The last one, the students sang the Chinese song----Tian mimi.
During the party, the audience can enjoy the Chinese food, the performances by the students, the video clips related to New Year and have a look at many crafts from China which i borrowed from the professors of Asbury College,because they have collected many excellent crafts.
All the people joining in the party had fun there and knew more about China's New Year.
I am thankful that i got the support from JCTC. This is the first try and i got a lot of experience about this,next year i think i will prepare this a little earlier,this time the students and i only carried out the plan 4 days ago and many performances are from our daily practice but they did put on their performances very well and i am proud of them a lot.Next time I will need more student helpers to serve the audience there.It will be better.

We make Jiao Zi with students each year. The students always enjoy making and eating the dumplings they make themselves. And you can write an essay about how to make dumplings afterwards. You can actually make it into a small book, called "how to make dumplings", using "xian, ran hou, jie zhe, zui hou" those words. Students can also draw picstures of the process.