Wait! Don’t throw out that solar garden light in your garden that’s been kicked over and broken! If the solar panel and light still work, here’s a lovely way to recycle it. Make your own solar lantern to place on a table, hang from a tree, or line a path (my children use it as a beautiful night-light in their bedroom). A bespoke solar tuki is just what you’ve been waiting for!
After reading Chandra’s Magic Light: A Story in Nepal, we were so inspired in so many ways. The book is beautiful in both illustrations and with the story. Chandra and her sister earn money on their own to purchase a solar lantern for their home so that the smoke from their kerosene lantern will no longer make their baby brother ill. Recently we played Guess The Spice (it comes with a free printable booklet), which was so much fun for the children. Today I’m sharing how me made our own up-cycled solar lantern /tuki!
Solar lantern/ solar tuki supplies:
- An old (but working) solar garden lamp
- A mason jar or jam jar
- Some silicone sealant or other adhesive
- Tissue paper and glue if you’d like to decorate your solar tuki
How to make your own solar lantern /tuki:
1) Take the lantern apart. you don’t need the stake or the light housing.
2) Place the light and solar panel in/over/on top of a mason jar/jam jar/pasta sauce jar, etc. Recycle as much as you can!
3) If your jar has a clear lid you can glue or silicone your housing to the lid. Ours didn’t fit quite perfectly but we borrowed a little silicone from a friendly neighbour to hold the solar light to the jar to seal the connection, and it worked very well.
4) Let the silicone dry
5) If you want to make something a little more bespoke, cover your jar with tissue paper in a similar manner used to make our Christmas baubles.
6) Tristan punched stars out of some tissue paper.
7) Then both children took turns spreading glue mixed with a little water on the jar, placing a star on top, and then smoothing some more glue mix over the top to seal.
8) Leave your solar lantern /tuki in the sunlight to charge and enjoy the glow in the evening.
Talk with your children about electricity:
- Where does it comes from?
- What is the impact it has on the earth?
- What would you do in the winter without light in the morning or evening?
- What other things are dependent upon electricity?
- How does solar power work?
- How does healthcare work in your area compared to Nepal? Do you have free access to a doctor and medications?
Our Challenge To You:
Take 3 things that are destined for the landfill and make them into something beautiful! It can be something as easy as taking a piece of paper and turning it into a scratch pad, or gift wrap.
Please let me know what you’ve made! The children would love to see it!
