Craft Tutorial: Holiday Sun Catcher!

Are you ready for a fun craft to do with your toddler?Nikki from The Perils of a Working Mom has a fun craft to do with your little one! It’s super easy and inexpensive too!

Craft time can be a fun way to spend a cold winter day with your toddler. However, if you choose and activity that is too difficult or requires too much adult participation, your toddler is likely to get bored or frustrated very quickly.

Crafts for toddlers are usually best if they don’t have a lot of specific steps or a lot of wait time. No doubt, if you have a toddler, you’ve noticed that they don’t have a lot of patience, so having to wait for paint to dry to move on to the next step may cause a melt down, and I’m not talking about a hot glue melt down!

Basic art activities, such as finger painting are usually a fun activity for toddlers because they are usually very much into tactile experiences at this age. (Have a paint brush handy, just incase you have one of those toddlers that doesn’t like to get dirty!) Spreading glue onto paper and sticking items (foam shapes etc.) is a good activity that also helps to develop fine motor skills. And of course, the old stand by of coloring is always a hit if you aren’t into anything more involved!

Your child’s masterpieces from any of these activities make great gifts for grandparents and other relatives. Put a piece of artwork in a frame with a photo in one corner and it is something that grandma will cherish forever. Painting and colorings can also be cut into smaller holiday shapes and used to make holiday greeting cards.

Here is an easy craft; that anyone, of any crafting ability can easily do with a toddler. Most of the items required you may already have at home, if not, a quick trip to your local dollar store and you will be set!

Holiday Sun Catcher

This craft can be modified for ANY holiday, celebration or theme that you desire!

Materials:

Cardstock or construction paper

Colored tissue paper or other type of semi transparent paper, cut or torn into small pieces

Glitter (optional)

Clear contact paper

Scissors, pencil

Adult Preparation:

1) Draw a simple holiday shape in the middle piece of paper.

2) From the center of your paper, cut out the shape, leaving the outside of the paper intact to form the frame of your sun catcher.

3) Cut 2 pieces of contact paper, each slightly smaller than your paper.

4) Remove backing from contact paper and adhere to one side of paper.

** If you aren’t ready for your child to do the craft right away, reapply the contact paper’s backing sheet to protect it until you are ready.

This is what your prepared Sun Catcher should look like. (With backing paper in place)

Directions for Child

1) Give the prepared sun catcher to your toddler. Remove backing paper. Show them that the opening is sticky.

2) Give them a pile of tissue paper pieces. Show them how to stick it to the contact paper.

3) Allow your child to put on as much or as little tissue paper as they wish. It doesn’t have to be all flat or completely stuck.

4) When they are finished, you can add glitter if you want. Assuming that you don’t want your entire house covered in glitter for all of eternity, I recommend that you apply the glitter or put it into a saltshaker for your toddler to shake on!

When your child is finished, cover the tissue paper and glitter with the second piece of contact paper to hold everything in place and protect the masterpiece.

Hang the sun catcher in a window for all to admire!