Kids celebrate new year at Discovery Museum

In some parts of Brazil, they kicked off 2009 by tossing flowers into the Atlantic Ocean and jumped in waves for good luck in the new year.

Some in Japan wouldn't think of beginning the new year without sending special postcards - called nengajo - to their friends and family.

These traditions were part of Lake County Discovery Museum's Ring in the New Year event that was targeted for children ages 3 to 12. The event ran Dec. 29 and 30 at the museum just east of Wauconda.

Children learned how the new year is celebrated in parts of the United States and different countries such as Australia, Brazil, Japan, Colombia and Korea. They also made party favors to take home.

Andrew Osborne, the museum's cultural resources manager, said the event began about four years ago.

"It's a very fun, very easy program," Osborne said.

Osborne said kids made replicas of the Times Square crystal ball that drops at the stroke of midnight each New Year's Eve in New York.

Children also they also made paper dolls to mimic the new year in Colombia. In Colombian tradition, said Osborne, the dolls are supposed to represent something from the previous year.