Chinese Lanterns

I am just finishing up an Asian art unit with all my grade levels. The projects turned out great. The fifth graders' project was my favorite. They made Chinese lanterns. I made a template for them to trace on 12x18 drawing paper. I had tons of Asian art books, a bulletin board, and lots of posters and visuals for them to look at. They could chose any Asian art imagery to draw on their lantern. We had a great variety from both 5th grades. They used colored pencil to color it in. They then cut out the template and folded it into the box shape. I had precut the top and bottom pieces of the lantern, they glued them on. They then added the center piece using yarn, black paper, and beads. I cut the wire and poked the wire handle through the top for them and secured it shut. They then tied the center piece around the wire.