Chinese Lanterns and The Moon Festival

My son (L) goes to pre-nursery. It may seem harsh to send a 21-month old to school at such a young age but I found that not knowing kids around his age he lacked the social interactions that I think are an important part of the fabric of life. I researched several schools and chose one which seemed more agreeable to me. Mainly, they believe that children should be children and they should be allowed to enjoy their childhood as much as possible. So during the past month he has been going to school for 2 to 3 hours a day, 5 days a week to play and sing and dance. And he loves it. He is always eager to go and already has a favorite teacher who brings a smile to his face when he sees her. Did I mention that the teachers sing songs and read stories to the kids in Mandarin as well as in English?

Now the Moon Festival has arrived and there are moon cakes {11} being made and sold around every spare space. I had 48 moon cakes made for L's school by Mariz. Made with the original recipe of lotus seeds, they are healthier - less sugar, less oil, no eggs, and yummier! The Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most important festival (after the Spring Festival) celebrated by the Chinese. Held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar it typically falls in September or early October. As part of the celebrations beautifully crafted and brightly colored chinese lanterns are lit everywhere.

L's school asked the parents to help their kids make their own lanterns to take to school. I'm not a very crafty person but I'm excited to learn new things with my son. I searched on You Tube for the easiest way to make a lantern and here's a tutorial that worked well for me - Try to make a paper lantern 01.

A simple way to make the lantern look fancier is to either paint the paper - if you are good at these things (not me!), or pick a printed one. I chose a couple which had patterns on both sides {1, 8}.

{1} Material: A thick paper printed on both sides, a pencil and a ruler to mark the lines to be cut, a pair of scissors to cut the paper, an eraser to clean up the pencil marks after you're done cutting and a sticky tape to hold the shape of the lantern and the handle.

{3} Before you do anything, cut a strip of paper that will be used for the handle {2}. Then mark down the two ends (top and bottom of the lantern) with a thick band and make the lines connecting the two bands (any width you like) which is where you'll be cutting the paper.

{4} Proceed to fold the paper in half and cut on those lines. Don't forget to clean up those pencil marks whencyou are done.

{5} Join the two sides with sticky tape, both at the top and bottom.

{6} Stick the ends of the paper strip to the lantern to make the handle.

There you have it - the easiest way to make a chinese lantern {7, 9, 10}!

 How would you make a lantern?

Shobha.