Do you have a supply of LED candles taking up space in your cupboard? Here are 14 fun light up crafts for kids that will put them to good use!

There are DIY night lights, tissue paper crafts, lanterns, DIY toys and more.

You might also like these DIY toy ideas

There is no denying that crafting is fun — any kind of crafting — but sometimes you want to take your project to the next level, right?

Add some magic. Brighten it up. Give it a ‘wow’ factor.

Well, here is one way to do that — make your craft light up with LED lights! Unlike candles or old-fashioned lightbulbs, LED lights are safe to use because they don’t get hot. This gives loads of scope to get creative with paper and recyclables.

They come in both battery-operated candles and fairy lights, and are inexpensive and easy to find online all year round. I’ve even seen them in the supermarket. 

We keep a stash of them on hand in our supply cupboard. We also re-use the ones from old crafts that we no longer want on display anymore.

Lights are not just good for holiday-themed crafting either (although they are especially useful for that!). You can apply them to any theme at any time of year.

Here are some light up craft ideas from our own archives and also from some of our blogging friends to get you started…

Light up crafts for kids

• Turn a cereal box into a light-up firefly twilight scene with some repurposed K-Mart fairy lights
• Upcycle yoghurt pots into colourful tissue paper lanterns
• Turn a paper bag into a light up fairy house. This makes a cute night light or a DIY toy for play
• Use our free printable template to make mini paper lanterns that are just the right size for LED candles

These recycled glow bugs are so fun. Free printable template for the bug parts.

• What’s more fun than a paper roll firefly? A paper roll firefly with a light-up butt! So cute.
• These tissue paper jellyfish are made using our own DIY mod podge. Hang them from the roof and watch them light up just like a real bioluminescent jelly.
• I don’t like to play favourites with my craft projects — they are all my babies. But if I did, this egg carton reef that doubles as a DIY night light would be pretty close to number one. It looks good as a summer decoration by day too. Free printable tropical fish included.

Use tissue paper to decorate Mason jars and make some pretty Earth Day lanterns

• Barley and Birch shows us how to turn a recycled peanut butter jar into a colourful flameless lantern
• I love this cardboard space shuttle with a light-up dashboard by Mama Smiles
• Sometimes it’s as easy as ‘rip and stick’, like with this rip and stick camping lantern by The Crazy Outdoor Mama

• Make a cardboard toadstool gnome home like this one, by Barley and Birch
• Create a beautiful fairy or unicorn nightlight using a mason jar. This one is by Crafts By Amanda
• This flower thumbprint lantern by The Craft at Home Family is easy enough for younger kids to make and also makes a cute DIY gift idea
• Artsy Fartsy Mama shows us how to make a wax paper lantern with a craft stick frame

We have tons more ideas for our LED light stash, I hope to share some more of them with you soon.

You might also like:

• Check out these easy sponge crafts kids will love
• We love crafting with yarn! Here are some of our favourite yarn crafts for kids
• Don’t throw away your paper rolls! Turn them into one of these paper roll craft ideas instead