Glow Flower Lanterns – Light Exploration Project

Project Summary:

This glow flower lantern project is such a great way to introduce children to the concept of exploring light in a way that is creative and safe. Children will love going to bed staring in wonder at the vibrant colours radiating from their new lanterns!

Project Details: Glow Flower Lanterns

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Latest Products: LED Tea Lights

Amazon has an excellent selection of contact paper that can be used for all kinds of arts and crafts projects, click on the links below to view details.

Latest Products: Contact Paper

Step 1: Collect flowers for the light exploration project

The first step requires the children to collect some flowers and small leaves from the garden or an outdoor setting. The flowers can be prepared by gently removing the flower petals and placing them within containers for use in the project.

You could choose to place them in containers within colour themes as this will help the children to group the colours within their designs.

Step 2: Set up the materials

You will need contact paper for this step. You will need two pieces of contact paper for each lantern. To keep it simple you could cut two rectangle shapes from the contact paper the same size as A4 paper sheets.

Take one piece of contact paper, peel off the top layer and place the transparent piece of contact paper on a table with the sticky side up. You can use small pieces of Sellotape to attach the contact paper to the table. Lay the containers of flower petals out along side the contact paper.

You will also need to choose a piece of coloured card, also size A4. Place the card in landscape orientation and cut two strips of equal height to act as borders for the top and bottom of the lanterns. You will also need to cut a small thinner strip which will be placed as a handle for each lantern.

Step 3:Create the flower petal design

This is the fun step! The children get to create their very own designs in flower petals! They may choose to create a pattern of colours, or to create the first letter of their name, or they may choose to create an abstract design.

When you create your lanterns there will be a little bit of overlap so the children can centre their flower designs in the middle and leave both edges clear.

Step 4: Seal the flower petal design with contact paper

When the children have completed their designs you can seal the contact paper by taking the matching piece of contact paper for each lantern. Remove the top layer and this time place the sticky side facing down towards the flower petals.

Line up the sheet of contact paper with the sheet below and gently pat down and seal the two pieces. Using your hand smooth out any ripples and gently pat down in between the flower petals.

Step 5: Create a top and bottom border with coloured card

Once the contact paper has been sealed you can attach the border strips of coloured card to the top and bottom of the contact paper. You can choose glue or Sellotape to attach the border strips to the sealed contact paper.

Step 6: Roll the finished design into a cylinder shape and staple

When the borders have been attached you can roll the sheet into a cylinder shape and then use a stapler to staple the start and end points together.

Step 7: Attach handles to each lantern

A simple handle can be attached to each lantern using a stapler.

Step 8: Create and attach a base for each lantern

Place each lantern over a piece of card and roughly draw around the base with a pencil. Then use a scissors to cut out the circular shape. You will need a strong glue to attach the circular base to the bottom of the lantern, if you have a glue gun it will work really well for this step.

Step 9: Insert a LED colour changing light

Using LED colour changing tealights are a great way to enable children to explore the concept of light and changing colours.

Now that the glow flower lanterns are complete you can gently place a LED colour changing tealight within each lantern. You can turn the tealight on before you place it in our you may choose to leave them off to save the battery until the evening time.

Step 10: Turn on lantern in a darkened room

The final step is to wait until after sunset and then turn on your glow flower lanterns in a darkened room and you will be fascinated by the lighting effect!

As the LED colour changes, the light will shine through the transparent contact paper and will appear as if the colour of the flower petals are changing also, resulting in a revolving display of different colour themes.

The effect of the light against the beautiful patterns of the flowers provides a wonderfully soothing and relaxing atmosphere for the children to enjoy as part of their bedtime routine!