Paper Lanterns

Paper lanterns—cylindrical paper shapes that hold (or simulate) light—are one of the most beautiful and versatile crafts in the preschool repertoire. They appear in celebrations across cultures: Chinese New Year, Japanese Obon, various winter festivals, birthday parties, and summer garden celebrations. Making them gives children both a beautiful decorative object and a window into a world of celebration traditions.

The construction technique is elegant in its simplicity: a sheet of paper folded and cut, then opened and rolled into a cylinder. The cuts create the lantern's characteristic slotted openings. No complex folding, no special materials—just paper, scissors, and tape.

What You'll Need

• Construction paper or cardstock — One sheet per lantern. Thicker paper holds its cylinder shape better.
• Scissors — For cutting the slots.
• Tape or a glue stick — For connecting the cylinder.
• A strip of paper — For the handle.
• Markers, paint, or stickers — For decorating before assembly.
• Optional: a battery-operated tea light — To place inside the finished lantern for a glowing effect. Never use real candles in paper lanterns.
• Optional: tissue paper — Glue strips of tissue paper over the slot openings for a stained-glass color effect.

How to Do It

1. Decorate the paper first.

Before any cutting or folding, lay the paper flat and let your child decorate it: paint, markers, watercolor wash, stamps, or collage. The inside of the decoration becomes the outside of the lantern when it's assembled.

2. Fold the paper in half lengthwise.

Fold the decorated paper in half lengthwise (hot dog fold), keeping the decorations on the inside of the fold for now.

3. Cut the slots.

Along the folded edge, cut parallel lines about ¾ inch apart, stopping about 1 inch from the open edge. Do not cut all the way through—leave a 1-inch border intact at both short ends. Make 8–12 cuts across the entire length.

4. Unfold and form the cylinder.

Unfold the paper. The cuts create the characteristic lantern openings. Now roll the paper into a cylinder (the cuts become the lantern's "ribs") and tape or glue the short edges together to hold the cylinder shape.

5. Add the handle.

Cut a strip of paper about ¾ inch wide and 8 inches long. Tape or glue each end to opposite sides of the lantern top. This is the hanging handle.

6. Place the light and hang.

Insert a battery-operated tea light into the bottom of the lantern. Hang from the handle. The light glowing through the slotted openings is genuinely beautiful.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• Cultural Literacy — Paper lanterns appear in traditional celebrations across East and Southeast Asia, among other cultures. Learning that these objects carry cultural significance—and that making them is a form of cultural appreciation—builds multicultural awareness.

• Geometric Transformation — Watching a flat sheet of paper become a three-dimensional cylinder through cutting and rolling is a geometric transformation—the same material in different configurations creates different shapes.

• Cutting Precision — Making parallel, evenly spaced cuts that stop exactly at the border requires the ruler-guided scissors precision that fine motor skill development needs.

• Light and Shadow Observation — The pattern of light and shadow produced by the lantern's slotted openings is a direct observation of how light travels in straight lines and is blocked by opaque material. Physics through aesthetics.

• Cultural Celebration Connection — Making a craft associated with celebration—and learning why certain cultures use lanterns in their celebrations—builds the cultural empathy and global awareness that citizenship requires.

Tips & Variations

• Tissue paper windows: Before assembling, glue strips of colored tissue paper over each slot opening. When the lantern is lit, the light shines through in stained-glass colors.

• Decorated with cultural symbols: For Chinese New Year lanterns, add painted Chinese characters (good luck, happiness, family), red and gold decoration, and golden fringe at the bottom.

• Garden lantern garland: Make 8–10 small lanterns and string them on a piece of twine with battery-operated lights between them. A lantern garland strung across a porch or window is festive and beautiful.

• Giant lantern: Scale up to a full poster board sheet for a dramatic large lantern. The construction is the same; the scale is more impressive.

My Two Cents

Paper lanterns occupy a rare category of crafts: they're visually beautiful before the light is added, and then they become something else entirely when illuminated. The transformation from a pleasant paper cylinder to a glowing, shadow-casting light source is genuinely lovely. And for children who have heard stories of lantern festivals—floating lanterns on rivers, thousands of lights against a dark sky—making their own small version connects them to something ancient and large.