Animal yoga poses for kids

Sint Maarten paper lantern

I work for a Dutch family in the Netherlands at the moment and my oldest nanny kid made a paper lantern for St. Martin's Day (Sint Maarten). It's a popular children's feast day in many parts of the Netherlands. On the 11th of November, armed with a hand-crafted lantern, children go door to door singing Sint Maarten songs. As a reward, they receive candy or fruit in return. 
Saint Martin is regarded as a friend of the children and patron of the poor in the Catholic tradition. If you are interested to read more about this topic, visit the website Finding Dutchland

To make a lantern you need the following items: 
Parchment paper
Crayons
Glue or double sided tape
Cardboard strips in a colour of your licking
Ribbon
 Plastic bottle 
Light stick

Start with cutting off the top of a plastic bottle. Next you wrap the parchment paper around the bottle to determine the amount you need. Cut of the right amount of paper in the length and height and let your child colour this with crayons. When your kid is finished with the drawing, attach the cardboard strips on the top and bottom with glue or double sided tape. 



Glue or tape the ends of the cardboard strips together around the plastic bottle to create a lantern. Use a hole puncher to make two holes in the lantern. String a ribbon through the holes and attach a lantern stick like this. Now your kids are ready to collect some serious candy :-)

On the photo bellow you can see the lantern my nanny kid has made. On the right you see a tea light. You can make one with exact the same materials except for the ribbon. You also have to swap the bottle for a glass jar because of potential fire risk.


After we made the lantern we practiced Sint Maarten songs and before the activity we read the book Sint Maarten en het beertje. It's such an adorable story! The children's book is written in Dutch and you can watch the story in the video bellow.