How to Make Painted Paper Lanterns with Kids
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Materials Needed:
- Red Construction Paper
- Brushes, gold glitter, and gold paint (and any other go-to painting times)
- Scissors
- Stapler
- Gold curling ribbon (like balloon ribbon or gift ribbon)
- Hole Punch
- Ruler (Or just trace a red envelope)
- Pencil
Timeline:
- A couple of hours (You have to wait for the paint to dry!)
- We did ours over 2 days
Directions for making the Coolest Chinese New Year Paper Lanterns ever!
My preschooler and my 3rd grader both helped out with different parts of this activity. So if you have children of different ages, you can definitely do this craft with them.
Step 1. Paint your red paper with gold and glitter.
(We used craft paint, which stains clothes. My preschooler is pretty careful so I wasn't too worried. You could also use tempera paint too, but I'm not sure if the results will be as vibrant.)
Step 2. Once the paint dried, cut the paper up into little rectangles.
- You could trace a red envelope or just measure out a 3 1/4" x 4 1/2" rectangle.
- You'll need 10 rectangles (5 rectangles on top and 5 rectangles on bottom) to make one lantern
- We made 3 lanterns, so we cut out 30 rectangles.
Step 3. Fold your 10 rectangles this same exact way:
Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise (decorated side inside.)
Undo that fold in the middle and fold the corners of the rectangle down so that they meet that middle fold.
Do this for all 10 rectangles.
Now we're going to assemble the lanterns.
Step 4: Staple together the rectangles.
Grab 2 rectangles. Make sure their decorated sides are up. Line up their corners. Staple right in the fold.
Staple 3 more rectangles together in this same manner with the first 2.
Make sure to line up the corners and staple inside the fold.
You will get a "flower" with 5 petals.
This will be the top of your lantern.
(The 5th rectangle will be slightly harder to staple with the others, but you can do it!)
Step 5. Staple the remaining 5 rectangles between the petals of the "flower" you already created.
Basically, you've already created the top of the lantern. (It looks like a flower.)
Now you're going to create the bottom of the lantern by stapling paper rectangles between the petals.
Here's a photo of me stapling the 1st rectangle of the bottom layer (rectangle #6) between two of the flower "petals." Staple it the same way as before. Line up the corners and staple in the folded crease!
As you staple rectangles 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, between your flower petals (rectangles 1-5), your lantern should slowly take shape so that it looks like this.
DO NOT STAPLE THE BOTTOM OF YOUR LANTERN SHUT YET!
(Sorry for yelling, but you have to keep the bottom part open. We'll need it open to add ribbon.)
Step 6. Hole punch two holes in the top of your lantern (the stapled shut side.)
Step 7. Cut a piece of ribbon about two arms length long.
Step 8. Fold the ribbon in half and tie a knot in the middle.
Step 9. Slide the two ends of your ribbon through the holes in your lantern...
They should slide right through inside your lantern. Then tie a knot inside (to hold your ribbon loop in place.)
Step 10. Now staple the bottom of your lantern so that your ribbon dangles out.
Step 11: Curl your ribbon with your scissors.
TA DA! You're all set! Your gorgeous paper lanterns are all ready for the New Year.
I really hope you enjoy making these with your kids too. And if you make them (and you're on IG or FB), be sure to tag me (@pinkstripeysocks) so I can "ooh" and "ahh" over your creations. ;D
Looking for more Lunar New Year crafts?
Or, click here for our favorite Chinese New Year Books.
Happy crafting, friends!
