Prayer flags are believed to bring happiness, long life, and prosperity to those who create them. Let’s make some! Each color has a special meaning: blue/space, white/air, red/fire, green/water, and yellow/earth.
Here’s an image of prayer flags hanging from a Buddhist shrine in Nepal!
Materials needed: 5 sheets of construction paper (blue, white, red, green, and yellow) cut into small rectangles, a long piece of ribbon, stapler, and stickers, crayons, markers (or other decorating supplies).
- Use scissors to cut construction paper to the size you’d like your flags to be.
- Decorate each flag using markers, crayons, stickers, etc. Optional: Write a special wish on each flag.
- Place your flags in this color order: blue, white, red, green, then yellow.
- Cut ribbon the length of the 5 flags plus extra on the two ends for hanging.
- Fold the top of your flags over the ribbon or twine to form a tab and staple flags to ribbon in color order.
- Hang your prayer flags and let the wind carry your special wishes and drawings out into the world.
Tibetan prayer flags can even be made with classes or groups and hung together to create a fun and peaceful environment!