Making Lanterns

Here's a neat holiday craft, if you need something to do with your kids while they're home over break. You'll need the following items:
tin foil
a glass jar
dish towel
tooth picks
a simple picture to trace
battery powered candle or other small light

1. Find some simple pictures and cut them out. (We printed some from the computer)


2. Cut a piece of tinfoil slightly taller than your glass jar, and slightly longer than the circumference (distance around the jar).

3. On top of a dish towel, trace the picture onto the dull side of the tinfoil. (Just draw the outline of the picture with a pen. The tinfoil should be soft enough to pick up the lines as you draw them.)


4. You should now have an imprint of your picture on the dull side of the foil.

If your eyes are good, you can probably make out the imprint of the tree. If your imprint is hard to see, use a marker to draw over the imprint so you can see it better.


5. Keeping the tinfoil on the towel, use a toothpick to poke holes along the lines of the picture.


6. Once you've poked all your holes, wrap the foil around the jar, shiny side out, and tape it to the jar. (We turned the jars upside down so it would be easier to set a light under them.)


7. Put a battery powered candle or other small light under your jar and watch the light filter through the holes. (You can see some of the other designs we made below.) Oooh... Ahhh...