Zodiac Paper-Cutting Templates (Jianzhi-Inspired)

How to Cut

1. Print the template sheet for the animal you want to make.
2. Lay the printed template on top of a sheet of red paper, or trace around the outline onto the red paper with a pencil.
3. Hold both sheets together and cut around the outline with safety scissors.
4. For a mirror-image cut, fold the red paper in half first and place the straight edge of the template on the fold before you cut.
5. Open your finished silhouette and hang it in a window or tape it to a wall.

Scissors safety: younger students should use blunt-tipped safety scissors, cut slowly, keep their free hand away from the blades, and ask an adult for help with any tricky curves.

About Jianzhi

Jianzhi (剪纸) is the Chinese folk art of paper-cutting, displayed at festivals and during Lunar New Year and often cut from red paper. Traditional jianzhi is cut freehand or from patterns passed down over generations, with delicate detail cut out from inside the design. These templates are simple silhouettes inspired by that tradition — a starting point for the classroom, not reproductions of traditional jianzhi designs.