July 4 Lantern Project Great Before or During Party

There were a lot of great reasons to take the family to the Allentown Art Museum yesterday, including the wonderfully cool air-conditioning.

The free admission to the museum, which included access to the “At the Edge: Art of the Fantastic” exhibition, was certainly a big plus. (Yes, Sundays at the museum are still free. Donations are encouraged.)

Anyhow, the no-cost entry probably kept me from completely losing it when my five-year-old decided he had “had enough” of the museum and began running at top speed through the exhibit, using various museum patrons as though they were orange cones on an obstacle course.

I surely would have lost it, had I paid the full $12 to walk through the door. But, I digress.

The free children’s art activity in The Crayola Learning Center – creating a paper lantern – was another big plus yesterday. The project is one my kids and I have done before, and if you and the little people in your life are prone to doing arts and crafts activities at home, you likely have all of the basic supplies on hand:

• construction paper
• scissors
• a stapler
• and a glue stick. 

The museum put a decidedly July 4 spin on the project, providing red, white and blue construction paper and plastic stars to trace. There were also baskets of Crayola markers on hand for adding additional personal adornments.

Do you have a great July 4 craft project to share?

About.com offers detailed, step-by-step instructions for the paper lantern project. Keep in mind that the project is surely something you can change up as you see fit, based on the ages of those participating and the time available.

For example, the museum had the top and bottom lantern bands and the handles pre-cut to make things easier for the little ones and to help things to move along more quickly.

If you go with the red, white and blue theme you can have some pretty low-cost decorations for your July 4 barbecue, or a great party activity for the little ones that easily turns into a take-home keepsake.

In case you were wondering, the only reason the little speed demon was allowed to do the art activity at all yesterday was to allow his dad and grandma enough time to finish viewing "Art of the Fantastic." Plus, his big bro had been looking forward to the art project.

There was no need to punish everyone. (Just me…)