A craft for small hands

Make your own Timblemoon lantern

The lantern runs through every Timblemoon story — so this is the craft, not a craft. One sheet of paper, a little color, and your own small light for the window.

Free coloring page

Six folds to a light

Kid and grown-up, together

  1. 1

    Print the template

    One sheet of plain paper is all you need. Heavier paper makes a sturdier lantern, but anything works.

  2. 2

    Color your panels

    Before any folding, color the lantern panels. Ember yellow, cream, or any small light you like.

  3. 3

    Cut along the solid lines

    Grown-ups cut, kids guide. Cut out the lantern body and the handle strip along the dark solid lines.

  4. 4

    Fold on the dotted lines

    Fold the body in half the short way, then cut the dotted slits from the fold — stop at the border line.

  5. 5

    Roll and tape

    Unfold, roll the sheet into a tube, and tape or glue the short edges together. The slits puff out into lantern ribs.

  6. 6

    Hang your light

    Tape the handle strip across the top. Hang it somewhere the whole village can see — a window works wonders.

Why a lantern?

In Timblemoon, a lantern is never just a light. It's the promise that there's room for one more on the hill.

Pip

lifted the very first small light on Lantern Night.

Hazel

keeps her lantern lit so nobody walks the lane alone.

Mrs. Claus

lights the whole lane come Christmastime.

Ember & Wick

were named for the light itself.

See where the first light was lifted

Once the lantern is hanging, read the story that started them all.