Mid-Autumn Festival Lanterns

Last month Singapore celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival or "New Moon Festival" as it is sometimes called.  This festival celebrates the harvest and takes place on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar (on the night of the full moon).  It is a time of thanksgiving and prayer for prosperity and is visually represented in Singapore by the making and carrying of lanterns through the streets of Chinese neighbourhoods, such as Chinatown.

We decided to make lanterns of our own by recycling some artwork the boys produced a few weeks ago and which I blogged about here.   I took down the food colouring paintings from our balcony doors and asked the boys to tear the paper into shreds - an activity that delighted Dooey as he loves tearing things apart and an activity that delighted Wugs because he loves cutting everything up using his new safety scissors.  I blew up two balloons and put together a mixture of white glue and water. Then I asked Wugs to stick the shreds of paper to the balloon using the diluted glue mixture (I had to do this part of the activity for Dooey).  Once the balloons were completely covered with the paper, we applied another layer of glue and let them dry overnight.

              

        

The next morning, we popped our balloons and I cut a hole in the top of each that was big enough to place a small LED light inside.  The paper crinkles a little as the air goes out of the balloon, but it is easy to push back into shape by sliding a hand into the hole at the top and pushing out the sides.  I made a handle for the boys to carry their lanterns by making two holes in the opposite sides of the top part of each lantern and threading a rod through them and then tying a loop of wool to the rod.   Although we didn't join any of the lantern walks that were taking place around Singapore, the boys were thrilled with their little creations and carried them around the condo in the early evening just as it became dark.

What we used:
Balloons
Elmer's glue
Greaseproof paper dyed with food colouring
Rod
Wool
LED lights