Vesak Craft: Make a Paper Lantern

A popular craft for kids on Vesak is making a lantern. This is a craft for a simple one below but you can go more elaborate with different colored paper, ribbons and streamers if you desire!

Materials:
Popsicle sticks (or an easy alternative requiring no glue is bendy straws that fit together)
Glue (a hot glue gun works best)
Piece of cardboard
String
Tissue paper, any color (or another type of thin paper)

Instructions:
This craft is traditionally done using bamboo. However, you can use popsicle sticks or bendy straws because they are readily available.

Make two squares and eight triangles out of the popsicle sticks by gluing the ends together to create the proper shape. You will need the flat sides of the popsicle sticks to be the outside of your shapes.

Lay one square flat and put a small dab of glue on each corner. Then glue the triangles, tip down onto the corner of the square.

You want to angle the triangles so that the corners are touching and the bottoms make a square. Glue the edges of the triangles together and set aside. Repeat with the remaining square and triangles.

You will find that one square will have a flat side and the other will have a narrow edge. You can also opt to glue the flat square sides together.

Decide which end is the bottom and cut out a piece of cardboard to fit inside. You will want to glue it to the popsicle sticks, making sure that it is strong enough to hold the candle. A light, tea candle is your best bet.

Now you want to cover your lantern with paper. Because of the shape you can put glue on one side of your frame and gently roll it over the paper pressing the paper into the glue. Alternatively, you can also measure and cut out pieces of paper and glue them on each side. This is more time-consuming but it does come out a little nicer and allows you to use different colors. Make sure you leave the top open for when you light the candle. You can also glue some streamers on the bottom in bright colors for an extra-added kick.

As a word of caution, be careful lighting these and only hang and light outside the house!

Sources: Make a Wesak lantern and Make a Vesak lanterns with kids