STEAM Eagle Lantern

Make this fun STEAM-themed holiday decoration as a fun makerspace or elementary school engineering class activity. This activity features coloring and cutting, which is a great skill for young learners, and includes a simple circuit that can be integrated into science classes.

If you are one of our Drew students, make your lantern for this week's lantern parade.

If you are making this from another school or makerspace, we've left part of the eagle's sweater blank so you can put in your own name.

For this project you'll need:

• Your eagle lantern printout
• scissors
• markers, crayons, colored pencils- whatever you want to use to color with!
• LED and coin cell battery
• popsicle stick
• tape
• glue (optional)

After you've printed out your eagle lantern, color it in. You can use markers, colored pencils, crayons, whatever you have. Play around with how each one affects the light.

Using your scissors, cut out each piece on your printout. Don't forget the cut out the long rectangle at the top of the page, you'll need this to create your light circuit.

On the eagle body and the wings, look for each fold line. On the eagle head, you will fold in along the line. On the wings, you will fold out.

Take the eagle body, and tape the tab to the inside of the eagle on the opposite, making a cone like shape. Tape or glue the eagle wings to the back of the eagle body.

For this step you'll need the long rectangular strip of paper, your battery, LED, and tape.

First, look at your battery and identify which side is positive and which is negative. The positive side is usually labeled, and is smooth and shiny. The negative side is dull and textured.

Identify the positive and negative arms of your LED. The longer arm is positive and the shorter negative. Slide the LED over the battery with respective sides touching.

Take your rectangle of paper and wrap it around your battery. Use your tape to hold it together.

You're ready to put your lantern together now! Start by taking your light and glue or tape it to your popsicle stick. Next, glue or tape your stick with light to the inside of your eagle. Play around with the where you attach it to see how the the it affects the light coming out of the lantern.

Your eagle is done! Show off your work for all to admire!

If you are a Drew family, remember to drop it off at either campus before Thursday's lantern parade.