Anybody else going to be spending a few days in a house full of 9 little kids this week? As much as I love them all, it can make for a bit of chaos. This year I have a little activity planned to turn that chaos into organized chaos.

This past fall, I enrolled Lucy in Tinkergarten classes. We all met once a week with the intent to facilitate the kiddos’ exploration in nature through play, imagination, and some props that Mother Nature provided for us. Anyway, one of the events Tinkergarten participates in is a traditional Fall Latern Walk which has origins back to the festival of Martinmas in Northern Europe. We made these lanterns and then walked through the park one evening carrying the lanterns and singing songs. It was actually really beautiful and the kids loved it.

Though the weekend for this celebration is over, there is nothing to stop you and the children who you love but are also running amok around the house from doing this as well. All you need is some twine, colored tissue paper, glue, paint brush, tea lights, and a canning jar with band.

The instructions are pretty simple. Paint the tissue paper scraps onto the jar using the glue. Let dry. Tie a piece of twine onto the silver band that screws onto the jar to make a handle. Screw the band on, put in a tea light, and then light ‘em up.

So if you anticipate finding yourself in a busy house this week with little ones running around, take these supplies, gather up the kids, make some lanterns, get outside and walk off that turkey dinner. And don’t forget to take a plethora of matches with you lest one (or many) of the tealights blow out.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and eat as much pie as you can fit in there.