1Prepare the cups.

Gather four paper cups or yoghurt cups. If using paper cups, trim them to a height of about 2 inches.

2Punch holes on 3 of the cups.

Punch a pair of opposite holes along the middle section of three of the cups.

3Punch a hole on the 4th cup.

Punch a small center hole at the bottom of the fourth cup.

4Paint the cups.

Paint the outside of the cups using poster paint or acrylic paint. Acrylic paint is best used if the cups are glossy or waxy.

If you want to completely hide all the print and text on the cups, paint the cups with white paint, once the paint dries, paint with the final color. Red and yellow are popular colors for a Chinese dragon but you can always choose any color you like.

5Make gold streaks.

For a festive Chinese New Year dragon, create gold streaks on the painted cups.

After the paint dries from the previous step, use a dry brush to apply short streaks of undiluted gold paint all around the cup.

6Make a dragon's head.

Print out this dragon head on A4 or Letter size cardstock. You can also draw your own. The head should be slightly bigger than your paper cup's mouth.

Color and cut out the dragon's head.

7Cut a length of string.

Cut a length of string, about 18 inches. Make a large knot on one end.

8String a bell and some beads.

String a jingle bell and 2 to 3 large beads. Move them down all the way to the string's knotted end.

9String the cups together.

Cut a drinking straw into 1-inch long pieces. String the three paper cups with side holes, putting a piece of drinking straw in between cups.

Next, string another drinking straw, then string the fourth cup through its bottom hole.

10Knot the string inside the 4th cup.

Make a knot on the string from the inside of the fourth cup. Cut the excess length of string.

11Glue the head.

Using a glue gun, attach the dragon's head onto the fourth cup's mouth.

12Tape a pair of coins.

Tape a small coin below each hole on the cup adjacent to the head. These coins will provide the weight to stabilize your dragon as you pull it along.

13Attach a string.

Attach a long string to the dragon's head. You can do this by either taping the string at the back of the head or you can punch a hole at the top of the head then tie the end of the string around the hole.