Supplies:

• Trays (one for each child)
• Containers
• Paper lanterns
• Battery-powered lights: Table Lamp (tea lights) - OR - Hanging Lamp (string lights)
• Colorful origami paper
• Kid scissors
• Adhesive (tape, glue dots, etc.)
• Decoration (Paint markers, craft gloss + glitter, etc.)
• Gems, stickers, etc.
• Hot glue gun (Counselors Only!)

Prep/ Set Up Details:

• Prepare a tracy for each CAMPer with their lantern and several sheets of origami paper
• Organize all shared supplies in containers (e.g., paper, markers, gems, adhesives, etc.)
• Prepare a few relevant fun facts or questions to enrich the activity discussion!
  • Did you know that many holidays around the world are celebrated with paper lanterns - in China, people create beautiful lanterns to celebrate the Lunar New Year, and in India when celebrating Diwali (the festival of lights) families decorate their homes with lanterns.

Preparing for younger children (ages 3-6)

• Pre-create the origami shapes
• Pre-build the lantern with lighting mechanism
• Opt for less messy options (e.g. stickers, glue dots, etc.)
  

Preparing for older children (ages 7+) 

• Allow them to create their own origami shapes
• Consider more sophisticated options (e.g. glitter, etc.)

Activity Instructions:

Counselor(s) Prep (30 minutes before)

Doors Open (5 minutes before)

Gather (right on time)

• When all children are seated, welcome everyone!
• Introduce yourself and any other Counselors assisting the activity
• Give children a brief overview of what to expect and show children a completed “demo” or what the final product of this craft can look like
• Briefly review the tools they’ll be using and highlight any tools/techniques that require either (1) special care or (2) direct Counselor intervention
  • E.g. “Scissor edges can be sharp, so take care to always grab them by their handles and set them down gently every time!”
  • OR - “Some parts of this project will require hot glue, and Counselor ABCD is going to be helping you with that step!”

Icebreaker (5 minutes)

• We’re going to play Nice to Meet Ya!
• Instruct all children and Counselors to sit in a circle
• Go around the circle having each participant tell everyone their name and their favorite movie
• Counselors can go first to set an example for children 

Craft (25 minutes)

1. Build your lantern:
   • (Hanging lantern only): Create the hanging light:
     • Wrap the string lights around the metal wire that will go inside your hot air balloon and then insert the wire frame in the balloon.
   • Gently expand the paper lantern and insert the wire with the battery pack on top.
   • Secure the wire by locking it in on both sides at the top of the lantern.
   • (Table lamp only): Create the lighted base:
     • Cut the rim off a small paper bowl and punch two holes in the bottom
     • Glue electric tea lights to the bowl, fitting the switches into the holes you created.
     • Hot glue the bowl to the bottom of your lantern (COUNSELOR ONLY)
       • Safety Reminder: The hot glue gun is the recommended tool for this step, but should never be in the hands of children - hot gluing is a Counselor task. ‍
2. Create origami shapes (6x)‍
   • Origami Star:‍
     • With the origami paper plain side facing up, fold the paper up in half
     • Bring the bottom left corner up and to the center and press to crease only the center point of the fold line (i.e. do not fold the whole crease). Repeat, bringing the top left corner down and to the center. You will now have an X outline on the left half of your paper.
     • Now, bring the bottom right corner to the center of the X shape you created, and crease the entire fold and then fold that corner back on itself (flush with the new right edge of your shape)
     • Bring your bottom left corner up to match the edge in the center and crease
     • Where you now have two edges meeting, fold the shape backwards and crease
     • Use scissors to cut through the shape just left of the center flap (the farther to the left you cut, the smaller your star will be)
     • The left piece is now a pentagon shape - pinch inward at the creases between each point to create a star!‍
   • Origami Butterfly:‍
     • With the origami paper patterned side facing up, fold the paper in half.  Unfold, rotate 90 degrees and fold in half again.
     • With the plain side facing up, fold the paper in half in a triangle (corner to corner).  Unfold, rotate 90 degrees and fold it corner-to-corner again. 
     • Pinch and fold into a triangle shape:  WIth the paper square plain side facing up, pinch the middle left and middle right points together and down (creating a triangle shape on the table) and then fold the layer on top flat to match.
     • Fold the left triangle corner flap upward to meet the top corner. Repeat with the right flap.
     • Flip your paper over (now with the triangle point facing down towards you)
     • On that point closest to you, fold back the topmost flap so that it peeks out past the opposite edge of your shape - create a crease with your finger to help that flap lay flat, and then fold the tip over the opposite edge of your shape
     • Fold the two sides of your shape in on either side (towards the tip that you just folded over and crease to create your butterfly’s wings!)
     • Pinch at the crease and use tape to hold the butterfly fold together
     • Fold a small section of the crease to create a flat surface to help attach your butterfly to a project
3. Glue/ tape your origami to your lantern‍
   • Safety Reminder: While some pieces can be added using glue dots, the hot glue gun is the recommended tool for this step, but should never be in the hands of children - hot gluing is a Counselor task.
4. Decorate your lantern with paint pens or gloss + glitter and some more shine with glitter gems

Play/ Perform (10 minutes)

• Name That Tune!
  • Instruct all children and Counselors to sit in a circle - turn on all of their lamps and dim the overhead lighting
  • Let children know you’ll be playing a short clip of a song and they’ll have to work together to figure out what it is
  • Once they guess it correctly, continue playing the rest of the song and encourage kids to dance along
  • For example:
    • Let It Go from Frozen - play 0:00 to 0:12, then pause!‍

Wrap-Up/ Goodbyes (5 minutes)

‍Reset/ Cleanup (After - 10 minutes)