Tissue paper lanterns or stained glass lanterns are a lot of fun to make. They are a great toddler activity or preschool craft idea as they are quite easy to make, too.
You don't need a lot of material to make them either - tissue paper, a brush, a glass jar and some wallpaper paste.
The possibilities are sheer endless. You can make a very colourful lantern by mixing all sorts of colours or you can create a themed one like the one we are going to show you here!
It's one of the craft ideas that both our boys (now aged 5 and 2) have really enjoyed - they needed a different amount of input as you might imagine with our older son basically doing it himself and our younger son just relishing putting the wallpaper paste onto the jar.
Time needed: 30 minutes plus drying time What you need:
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1. Rip the orange tissue paper into small bits - the smaller the bits, the more overlay you will get which affects the final look, the larger the bits, the faster you will be finished.
2. Follow the instructions to mix the wallpaper paste. It should have the consistency of thick paint - it shouldn't drip off the brush but should be easy to spread.
3. Cover the outside of the glass with wallpaper paste.
4. Start adding the tissue paper bits one at a time and use your brush and more wallpaper paste to make them really stick. You might need to hold them in place a little bit with your finger but you want the paper to really be covered in paste.
5. Cut a pumpkin face out of the black or brown paper - a mouth, nose and eyes.
6. Add them to the glass jar just like you did the orange paper before.
7. Let it dry.
8. Add a LED candle to your jar and enjoy!
Done!
There are, of course, endless possibilites to make lanterns for any occasion. Why not use white tissue paper as a basis and then add some hearts to it? This would make a lovely Valentine's or Mother's Day gift, too.
Or you could make a Christmas themed one with a tree or some stars! And why not share them on here?