I’m not a huge fan of doing pre-planned “crafts” with kids — they usually include a ton of prep work, and then most of the actual crafting ends up being done by the adult because it’s too difficult for chubby toddler fingers.  But this is one craft that we have done over and over again for different seasons — partly because L can do many of the steps by herself, but also because I just love the way these suncatchers look in our windows!

Supplies Needed:

construction paper

wax paper

tissue paper — cut or torn into squares

Elmer’s glue

paintbrush

This is a fall-themed suncatcher, so I decided to make ours in the shape of fall leaves — that way it will be seasonally-appropriate all the way through November.  You can do these in any shape you want!  Past shapes I’ve used include flowers, Easter eggs, Christmas ornaments, and hearts.

I drew a large leaf on some construction paper and cut out the inside, leaving about one centimenter of an outline for the frame of our suncatcher.  L is never satisfied with just doing one of these, so I then traced it so she could make four leaf suncatchers.

I taped some wax paper to our craft table and drew the vague shape of the leaf (slightly bigger than our frame) four times.  I gave L a ramiken filled with glue and a paintbrush.  For younger children, paint the outline with glue yourself and tell your child to fill it in with glue.

Once L had painted one of the shapes all the way with glue, I gave her a bowl filled with tissue paper squares.  She pressed them down one at a time.  [It doesn’t really matter if your child doesn’t cover the whole shape with paper — the glue and wax paper combo will still provide fun sun effects in those spots.]

We repeated that process three more times until all four leaves were covered with glue and tissue paper.  Then I sent L upstairs with Daddy so I could do the next step without her “assistance.”

To seal the tissue paper and allow the frame to stick on, cover each shape gently with a thin layer of glue.  Older children can help with this, but young toddlers will press too hard and the tissue paper will bunch up and then it will all look like nothing and everyone will be frustrated.  Trust me.  I know.

Finally, press the frames onto each leaf while they are still wet.  Allow them to dry, then cut as close to the frames as you can and hang them up on your windows!