The Harvest Moon Festival is a time for families to gather, share food, and enjoy the beauty of glowing lanterns under the autumn sky. Using everyday materials like jars, tissue paper, and LED lights, children can create their own glowing lanterns while exploring light, shadow, and cultural traditions.
This activity is designed for first through third graders, but can be adapted for other ages, and works beautifully in classrooms or at home. It’s not just about crafting. It’s about learning, experimenting, and appreciating how different cultures celebrate the moon and harvest season.
Follow the step-by-step guide below to build your own glowing lantern and light up your Harvest Moon celebration!
What children will learn
- Use the engineering design process: plan, create, test, and improve
- Explore light sources and how light travels through different materials
- Build problem-solving skills through hands-on construction
- Learn about traditional Chinese lantern-making and why lanterns matter during the festival
Materials needed
For classrooms
- Colored tissue paper or lightweight paper
- Paper lunch bags or construction paper
- Battery-operated tea lights (LED only)
- Tape or glue sticks
- Hole punch
- Yarn or string for hanging
- Scissors
For families
- Tissue paper, coffee filters, or thin wrapping paper
- Mason jars, paper bags, or plastic containers
- Flashlight or phone flashlight
- Tape
- Hole punch (or an adult can pre-punch holes)
- String or ribbon
Step-by-step instructions
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Lantern exploration and planning
15 minutes
Educators: Show images of traditional Chinese lanterns from the Harvest Moon Festival. Explain how lanterns stand for bringing light and good fortune to families.
Families: Hold different papers up to a window or flashlight and notice how much light each one lets through.
Engineering challenge: “How can we make a beautiful lantern that glows softly and can hang safely?” -
Design
10 minutes
- Choose your lantern base: a paper bag, a jar, or a paper cylinder you build.
- Pick decorating materials that let light pass through.
- Plan your pattern. Traditional Chinese designs include flowers, dragons, and geometric shapes.
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Build
30 minutes
1. Create the structure
- Paper bag: Carefully cut decorative shapes (adult help needed).
- Jar: Wrap with tissue paper and secure with tape.
- From scratch: Roll paper into a cylinder and tape it closed.
💡 Tip: Tissue paper tears easily! On jars, brush on watered-down glue (9 parts water, 1 part white glue) to bond the layers. It gets stronger and still lets light shine through.2. Add decorations
- Layer different colors of tissue paper for a glowing effect.
- Make patterns with tape. Tape blocks light and creates shadow designs.
- Add cut-out shapes that let extra light through.
3. Get ready to hang
- Punch holes near the top.
- Thread string or yarn through the holes.
- Check that the lantern hangs evenly.
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Test and improve
15 minutes
- Place the LED light inside the lantern (adult supervision required).
- Turn off the room lights and observe.
- Talk about it: “What do you notice about the light?” “Which materials work best?”
- Improve your design based on what you saw.
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Celebrate and display
10 minutes
Hang your finished lanterns and enjoy your own lantern festival. Talk about how families in China gather under glowing lantern displays during the Harvest Moon Festival.
🏮 Your lantern is complete!
Engineers plan, build, test, and improve. You did all four!
For educators
Assessment
Listen for engineering design vocabulary as students plan, build, test, and improve.
Classroom management
Set up stations for each construction step to keep materials and movement flowing smoothly.
Math connections
Create problems using lantern measurements and patterns. Students can compare heights, measure around each lantern, or order lanterns from shortest to tallest.
Cultural connection
Invite community members to share lantern-making traditions. Local cultural organizations can offer authentic perspectives.
For families
⚠️ Safety reminder
Adults handle all cutting and light sources. Keep LED lights and their batteries away from very young children who might put small objects in their mouths.
💬 Learning conversations
- “What happens to light when it goes through different materials?”
- “How do you think families feel when they celebrate together with lanterns?”
- “What other celebrations do we know that use lights?”
🧩 Problem-solving support
Encourage more than one try. Engineers always test and improve their designs! Celebrate mistakes as chances to learn.
🌍 Cultural appreciation
“People around the world create beautiful things to celebrate what’s important to them.” Use this as a chance to talk about your own family traditions, too.
Extensions and variations
🔬 Science
Try different light sources and compare how bright each lantern looks. Chart your results and talk about which materials let the most light through.
📏 Math
Measure the height of different lantern designs and how far around each one is. Build a class chart to compare them.
🎨 Art
Research traditional Chinese lantern symbols and what they mean. Make a class “symbol guide” to display.
🤝 Community
Plan a classroom or family lantern walk in the evening, with adult supervision. Invite families to share their own traditions.
🌕 Happy Harvest Moon Festival! 🏮
May your lanterns glow brightly and bring joy to all!