Simple lanterns for Chinese New Year

These simple lanterns make great decorations for Chinese New Year!

To make your lanterns you need:

Some coloured or glittery card - I used an A5 sheet for my lanterns but you can use a larger piece to make a bigger lantern
Pipecleaners for the handle
Washi tape
Sequins
Bostik White Glu
Bostik Foam Pads

Instructions:

Take the piece of card and fold in half. Use scissors to make a series of cuts about 1cm apart, starting at the folded edge and finishing about 1-2cm before the open edge. Unfold the cardboard, bend into a circle and staple in place at the top and the bottom.

Tape the ends of a pipecleaner on the inside of the lantern to form a handle. You may want to secure it firmly in place with a couple of extra staples. Then wrap some washi tape around the top and bottom of the lantern to cover the staples.

Decorate the lantern using coloured sequins. I used a mixture of White Glu and Foam Pads. The White Glu holds the decorations firmly in place and the Foam Pads make the embellishments stand out from the lantern for a bit of extra interest.

When the glue is dry you can display your lanterns! They look great hanging and it would be lovely to make a range of lanterns in different sizes for decorations - perhaps stringing them up as bunting!

You can find more Chinese New Year crafts for toddlers here:

The box of craft materials was provided to me free of charge by Bostik as part of the Tots100/Bostik Craft Bloggers Club.