Camp Shine: Get crafty idea no. 4 -- Make a firefly lantern (and read a book!)

It's near impossible for kids to go through preschool and grade school without seeing the beautiful books by author and illustrator Eric Carle. What I love most about his stories is that they inspire children, parents and educators to come up with truly wonderful craft projects.

If you are looking for an inexpensive way to light up your backyard dining table (or even an inside mantle), check out the firefly lanterns made by the children of Ellen from The Long Thread. Ellen used Carle's tutorial for painting tissue paper to help her kids doll, er, bug up glass jars.

Supplies will probably cost you less than ten bucks because you'll likely have everything on hand, save for the decoupage and white tissue paper (although I imagine most folks have oodles of tissue paper left over from the holidays). And the actual project takes a good chunk of time to complete (in two steps).

Another perk? You're kids may end up looking at your Eric Carle collection of stories for more art ideas. In fact, you should show them the slideshows and videos on Eric Carle's site, which shows how he creates his illustrations. Good stuff.

[via Craftzine]

More activities from Camp Shine:
Camp Shine: Cooking with kids idea no. 1 -- DIY strawberry fruit leather
Camp Shine: Get outside idea no. 1 - Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles
Camp Shine: Get crafty idea no. 2 -- DIY purse (with some parental help)
Camp Shine: Get outside idea no. 2 -- Backyard camping