We celebrated Martinmas at the preschool a few days before Halloween. This year we veered away from the balloon lanterns of previous years and tried something new.
It was quite an involved process. We used one day of handwork for each of the below steps to make these sweet lanterns.
We started with watercolor painting
Next we went on a nature walk to find just the right leaf. Then the kids ironed their leaves between two pieces of wax paper.
Then, we cut out a window using a template and glued in the leaf.
Finally...assembly. The children all attached their own handles using a maple leaf brad.
They lit up the night beautifully.
Previous Martinmas festivals can be found here.
(My seven-year-old did not have school on the day we were pressing the leaves so came to preschool with me and asked if he could tell the children a story while they were waiting their turn to iron. I hesistated briefly wondering what story he might share, and to my delight he came up with a darling tale of Mother Nature and her lantern. I didn't want to forget it and wrote it down as soon as I got home. Here it is , for anyone who is interested in reading it... Mother Nature and The Lantern.)
