Each year in Germany pre-schoolers take part in the Laternelaufen (lantern walk) to celebrate St. Martin’s day in November. This year I volunteered my DIY diva talents at my kiddo’s pre-school to help them create their fancy schmancy lanterns for their wander through the old town for St. Martin’s evening.
After much thought I came up with a quick upcycled lantern project that would be easy & fun for a room full of rambunctious munchkin’s to create:
A rousing success of unleashed kiddo creativity!
Here’s how to quickly whip up a few of your own:
Raid your recycling bin and your kiddo’s art stash and grab some medium to large sized pieces of paper or cardstock + a pipe cleaner, scissors, hole punch, glue, tape and some bits for decorating the finished lantern.
Snag a paper and fold it half lengthwise.
Chop slits through the folded edge stopping 2 – 3 centimetres from the end – more slits = more open spaces in your finished lantern.
Open up the cut paper.
Roll it around itself to form a tube shape and secure the ends together with glue and tape.
Decide which end you’d like for the top of your lantern and punch a hole through 2 sides.
Feed the pip cleaner through the holes, chop it to size and wrap the ends back around to secure it in place.
Decorate your lanterns…
Hook them onto a lantern light stick and head out for your lantern walk:
Make a bunch of mini lanterns, string them onto Christmas lights and hang them on the wall for some groovy new DIY decor:
