Looking for a printable paper lantern template? We’ve shared lots of lantern crafts for kids and while they’re super easy to make I know that sometimes it’s helpful to have a printable that your kids can use.
This PDF is totally free to download so it’s perfect if you’re crafting at home with your child or need something that you can print out for a classroom or preschool.
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Chinese Lantern Template
Paper lanterns are a classic craft and certainly not one that I’m going to try and lay claim to inventing.
Both my kids have made them at school and preschool and I think I might have made some then too.
Paper lanterns are also really adaptable and you can use them for several different crafts.
Obviously Chinese New Year is a big one but we’ve used them for a winter craft too as you’ll see below and they’d be good for Diwali, Christmas or winter solstice. Of course you can also just use them as an excuse to practice scissor skills or to make a cute decoration.
In this post you’ll find a tutorial to show you how to make DIY paper lanterns using our template as well as details on how to get the printable itself.
Materials Needed
- Lantern template
- Paper or cardstock
- Scissors
- Stapler, double sided tape or glue
How To Make An Easy Paper Lantern
The first step is obviously to print out your lantern template. I’ve used white printer paper but as you can see in the images you can also use other colors.
To see if it made a difference I also this craft using both normal printer paper and cardstock, the lilac lantern is made using card while the blue one was made using paper.
There was little difference to it to so go with what you have at home although obviously if you’re child is likely to play with it much or if you are thinking of painting your lantern then you might want to opt for cardstock to make it a bit more durable.
Cut out both parts of the lantern. I’ve used a thick line here to make it easier to cut.
Take the larger piece of the template and fold it in half along the long line.
Take your scissors and cut from the middle along the each of the shorter lines.
Unfold the template. If you don’t want the cutting guideline then fold the folds back out the other way so the black lines are on the inside.
So you can see the difference I’ve done this for the blue lantern in the finished images and the lilac template has the lines showing.
Tape or staple the two ends of the lantern together.
Take the other strip of your template and stick or staple this to both sides of the top of your lantern to make a handle.
While you could use glue for this craft I’d recommend using tape (I’ve used double sided tape) or a stapler as the shape of your lantern will make it harder for glue to stick.
Ideas for Adapting This Craft
If you are making a Chinese lantern craft you could use red paper and then put a piece of yellow paper in the middle of your lantern rolled into a tube shape to represent light.
You could draw a picture onto your lantern template before cutting it out. How about adding some snowflakes for a winter craft or a Chinese dragon for Chinese New Year. All you need to do is grab your colored markers, coloring pencils or crayons.
We’ve also added paint for this spring blossom Chinese lantern craft that’s perfect for welcoming in warmer weather.
For an easy and cute addition that’s great for fine motor skills too why not try adding some stickers to decorate your paper lantern craft.
More Lantern Crafts for Kids
If you want to make lanterns out of paper or card without using a template then you’ll find full instructions in our easy winter lantern craft for kids.
I made this stained glass lantern craft with my daughter when she was a toddler. This fun activity is good for fine motor skills and you can easily change the colours depending on what you are celebrating.
We made these mosaic Chinese Lantern crafts using our printable Chinese template – it’s free too.
How To Get Your Free Printable Paper Lantern Templates
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Fun! 😀
Thank you for sharing this easy DIY lantern. This is perfect for our Chinese holiday, which is coming up called Mid-Autumn Festival. One of the traditions kids do is to play with lanterns!
I have shared this blog post on my blog, which talks about Mid-Autumn Festival activities for kids. I mentioned how this is a great activity to do during Mid-Autumn Festival.