St Martin Lantern Craft for Kids: Which Lantern for Which Age, What You Need and a Plan for Lantern Walk Week

On 11 November it is St Martin’s Day – Martinstag. The legend tells of Martin, a Roman soldier who, on a cold winter’s day, cut his cloak in two with his sword and gave one half to a freezing beggar. Around this day children in Germany, Austria and Switzerland walk through the streets with home-made lanterns and sing lantern songs; in many places there is a St Martin’s bonfire, and, depending on the region, sweet bread men (Weckmänner, also called Stutenkerle) or St Martin’s pretzels are shared. If your child goes to a kindergarten or school in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, the lantern walk – the Laternenumzug – may be one of the first local traditions you meet. A St Martin lantern craft for kids is how it starts: every child brings a lantern they made themselves. Here is an overview for ages 3–7, with a free printable sample to try.

How to make a St Martin’s Day lantern: the short version

Choose a lantern that suits your child’s age – the star lantern for ages 3–4, a paper plate lantern with a face from about age 4. Print the template on thicker paper (160–200 g/m²), let your child colour it, and have an adult cut out the windows or the plate openings. Glue transparent paper behind the openings, put the lantern together, add a wire handle and hang it on an LED lantern stick – never use a real candle.

What’s in My St Martin Book?

„Mein Sankt-Martin-Heft: Laternen basteln & Ausmalbilder“ (My St Martin Book: Lantern Crafts & Colouring Pages) is a printable PDF with 17 A4 pages for children aged 3–7. Please note: the pack is in German only – there is no English edition. It starts with a cover and a page for grown-ups about the tradition, the materials and safety. Then come 6 colouring pages – St Martin sharing his cloak, the lantern walk, “my lantern”, the St Martin’s goose, the bonfire and “Laterne, Laterne” – plus 4 lantern templates (a star lantern plus a unicorn, a dino and an owl for a paper plate lantern), a step-by-step page for the paper plate lantern, a song sheet with two traditional lantern songs, a maze to Martin’s horse, 6 sharing cards and an end page. Want to try it first? Download the free sample – 5 pages with the star lantern, the unicorn lantern and the St Martin colouring page.

St Martin lantern craft: which lantern for which age?

The rule printed in the pack is simple: little children colour and glue, grown-ups cut out the fine parts. The older the child, the more steps they can do themselves.

• Ages 3–4: the star lantern. It is the quickest paper lantern craft in the pack. Your child colours the strip, you cut out the stars and the moon, and together you glue transparent paper behind the windows. Roll the strip, fit the base circle with its tabs and add a handle.
• Ages 4–5: the paper plate lantern with a face. The unicorn, dino and owl have big shapes that are easy to fill with chunky crayons. An adult cuts the circle out of the middle of the plates; pressing on the transparent paper and gluing the face are jobs for the child.
• Ages 5–7: more independence. Older children can cut along the outer lines with children’s scissors, glue the paper strip between the plate rims and choose which animal they want to carry on the walk. The wire handle is still added by an adult.

What you need

For the lanterns, use thicker paper of 160–200 g/m² so the lantern keeps its shape; ordinary paper is fine for the colouring pages. You also need transparent paper (the translucent craft paper sold for lanterns), glue, children’s scissors, crayons or pencils and an LED lantern stick. For the paper plate lantern, add two paper plates and a piece of wire for the handle.

Safety: light, scissors and small parts

No real candles. A paper lantern should never hold an open flame – use an LED lantern stick only, and check the battery the day before the walk. Adults cut the fine parts. The star windows and the opening in the paper plates are a grown-up job. Tidy away the scraps. Small cut-out parts are not suitable for children under 3, so keep an eye on younger siblings at the table. Bend the wire. Turn the ends of the handle wire inwards.

A plan for lantern walk week

Spreading the preparation over a few short days keeps it relaxed:

• Day 1 – the story: tell the legend of the shared cloak while your child colours „Sankt Martin teilt“ (St Martin shares).
• Day 2 – choose and colour: star, unicorn, dino or owl? Today is only for colouring.
• Day 3 – make the lantern: cut, glue the transparent paper, put it together and let it dry overnight.
• Day 4 – learn the songs: the song sheet has the German lyrics. „Ich geh mit meiner Laterne und meine Laterne mit mir“ – “I walk with my lantern, and my lantern walks with me” – is short and easy to learn. Then try the maze: who finds the way to St Martin?
• Day 5 – the lantern walk: check the handle and the LED stick, colour the sharing cards and give them away – „Ich teile mit dir!“ means “I share with you!”

Download the free sample See the full pack

Three topics in brief

The paper plate lantern. It is the kindergarten favourite: two paper plates, transparent paper, a paper strip in between and a face on the front. The pack walks you through it in 5 steps. In short: an adult cuts a large circle out of the middle of both plates; glue transparent paper over the openings from the inside; glue a strip of thicker paper (about 10 cm wide) all the way round between the two plate rims; glue the coloured face on the front; then make two small holes at the top, thread the wire handle through, bend the ends inwards and hang the lantern on the LED lantern stick.

Lanterns for toddlers. Children under 3 love carrying a lantern too. Here the adults do all the cutting and handle the small parts, while the children colour big areas and press on the transparent paper.

The story of St Martin. Behind the St Martin’s Day customs lies one simple message: share. Children understand it best when they hear the story and get to give something away themselves.

For international kindergartens and German lessons

Teachers may print the pack for their own class or group. Because it is in German, it also works as a gentle German lesson: short captions to colour, two songs to sing and six friendly sentences on the sharing cards.

Happy St Martin’s Day – may your lantern shine bright!

The photo scene is AI-generated. The files are for your own family, or for your own class or group if you are a teacher.