Paper Lanterns

I'll do my best to explain how we made our lanterns, but please know that I'm not one for precision, so you'll have to use your own judgement with some of the measurements. But you know you are good at this sort of thing, so it won't be a problem.

We started our lanterns by painting a blue watercolor. Our paper measures somewhere around 16"x22", and our lanterns were quite big.

Once the paintings dried, I turned them over and drew lines 2" from the top, 3" from the bottom and about 2" from the sides. The kids could make their drawings anywhere within the resulting box. I then used an exacto knife to cut out their creations. Moons, stars (traced from cookie cutters), suns (the kids drew the circle, I cut the sunbeams) and other varied celestial bodies were the favorites. The kids then used kite paper to glue over the holes. I prefer kite paper to tissue paper as it's more luminous, at least in my opinion. Note: if your lanterns are fairly small, it's advisable to also cut in a little door so you can easily light the candle in the bottom.

Once the decorating was done, I folded over the top 2" and glued them down, then the sides. You'll want to wait for the glue on the kite paper to dry before putting the lantern together, as it will make your life much easier. We let ours dry for about a day. For the bottom I cut notches in the paper and pushed the bottom pieces in to make a mostly rounded shape. I then traced the shape onto white sturdy paper, cut it a bit small, and glued it down inside the lantern for added stability. So all the 3" bottom pieces were glued to this white piece of paper.

Next, I reinforced the top rim with masking tape where the holes for the handle would go. We used some wire and beads to string pretty handles, and then I sawed a notch in a small dowel and wound the wire handle around that to stop the wire from sliding off the lantern. The kids loved holding their lantern by a stick, and it kept them from dragging on the ground. The last step was glueing down the tealight inside the lantern. I recommend these, because after the first one burns out, you can easily slip another tealight into the aluminum casing of the first one.

So there you go! The children loved making these. For Heidi it was the perfect craft, because she made about three giant shapes, and then she was ready to move onto beading her handle. This gave me time to cut out the shapes, and then she could take quick breaks from beading to glue down some kite paper. I should probably take a picture of the lanterns in daylight, for they are quite pretty. The children, as always, were so happy with this beautiful craft.