PAPER TUBE MENORAH

Make the Festival of Lights extra bright with this eco-friendly menorah! Your kiddos will love painting paper tube “candles” and “lighting” each one with yellow tissue paper. The best part is that each night of Hanukkah, kids can add the correct number of candles (setting them up right to left, just like we read Hebrew) and then “lighting” them left to right, lighting the most recent night’s candle first. What a joy it will be for them to participate in this nightly Hanukkah ritual!

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED:

-Nine paper tubes — eight toilet paper size (one for each night of Hanukkah) and one paper towel size (for the shamash)
-Acrylic paint in whatever colors you like (I used DecoArt Peacock Pearl — such a pretty metallic turquoise!)
-Paintbrush
-Yellow tissue paper
-Optional: you can also paint a strip of cardboard as the stand. My piece that I painted silver is 2” x 23.”

HERE’S WHAT YOU DO:

(1) Paint each tube whatever color you like — you could even paint them different colors or paint a design! (2) Allow the paint to dry about an hour and then decide if you want a second coat of paint. For the example pictured, I did two coats of paint. (3) If you’re painting a stand, paint that, too. (4) Cut yellow tissue paper into smaller pieces — mine were about 6” x 12.” (5) Each night of Hanukkah, set up your candles right to left, just like the direction we read Hebrew, and then “light” your candles from left to right by putting a piece of tissue paper in each paper tube.