At OMO, we believe that every stain represents an important experience - mud stains are the stamp of adventure, grass stains are the sign of exploration and fruit stains are the aftermath of discovery. Encourage your kids to get messy with our fun activities for happy, healthy, confident kids. We'll be there to sort out the dirty clothes afterwards.
Sun Catcher Art
Celebrate summer with beautiful window decorations made with flowers and leaves.
What you’ll need:
What to do:
First, take a walk in your garden or park with your child and gather flower petals and leaves to make your Sun Catchers with. Encourage your child to be respectful and gentle with plants and not to take more than they need. Talk about how the seasons have changed and now that it is summer there are leaves on the trees and flowers are blooming. Point out ‘weeds’ like dandelions that also have lovely bright flowers and are good for the bees and other insects.
At home, help your child to cut the centre out of their paper plate, leaving a circular frame. Lay the frame down on the contact paper (with the backing still in place) and draw around the inside of the frame. Cut around this circle, giving an extra centimetre or two around the line to stick on to the frame. Show your child how to gently peel off the backing and stick the contact paper to the paper plate frame. You should now have a sticky centre inside the frame. Lay the plate down with the sticky side facing up and let your child create their floral art using the petals and leaves they collected.
When your child has finished their artwork, cut another circle of contact paper to stick on top of it to seal the image. Encourage your child to decorate their paper plate frame. When they are done, punch a hole in the top of the frame and put string through it to hang it up. Help your child to hang their sun catcher in a sunny window and enjoy the summery floral art.
Alternative Materials:
Change it up:
Make it easy: Help your child to place their petals and leaves on the sticky contact paper.
Make it a challenge: Give your child tweezers to place their petals and leaves with. This makes it easier not to get sticky, but they will need to concentrate to pick up and transfer the fragile petals carefully.
Play with friends: A group of children can each make their own sun catcher to take home and enjoy.
Indoor play: Lay down an old sheet or newspaper for your child to work on if you’re doing this activity indoors. If you cannot go outside to collect flowers, use tissue paper in bright colours to create petal and leaf shapes.
Developmental areas:
Fine motor skills
Visual perception
Concepts – colour
Concepts – design
Values:
Love of nature; creativity; respect.