Sun Crafts Your Kids Will Like

Brighten your day with sun crafts for kids. The projects are easy and fun for children of all ages. All you need are recycled materials, paper, glue, and a little sunshine. Well, you could make them on a rainy day if you wanted too.

Click the pictures to go to the individual sun crafts.

By doing the projects, your child will learn something about how different materials react to light. Light will shine through some materials, with other materials it will reflect light.

Catch the Sun if You Can

Here are two different sun catchers your child can make. Both use recycled materials. When you place the one made out of tissue paper, you can see the design that you drew.

The other sun catcher uses a CD. When you place it in the sun it will reflect different colors similar to a prism. 

See Through Catcher

This sun craft uses recycled materials. You will need a plastic lid that is transparent or translucent (something you can see through or will let light through).

You will need;

• A plastic lid you can see through
• Tissue paper
• A permanent marker
• A glue stick

First draw the picture on a piece of paper and cut out. Then trace around your pattern on the lid. I drew a fish (It looks like a goldfish cracker).

On the inside of the lid, draw a design with the marker.

Add face.

After you have drawn your design, take tissue paper and cut it in small pieces. Glue the tissue on the inside of the lid. Put the glue on the lid instead of the paper. It is less messy and the tissue won't stick to your fingers.

Add tissue to the background.

When you are done, place your lid in a window. You should see the black outline of your design. You can also see the eye and mouth on the fish.

CD Sun Catcher

This project is also great for gardeners. Hang the CDs in the garden when the birds are eating the seeds and berries. The CDs are similar to flash tape and will scare the birds away.

What you need:

• A CD that you no longer need
  
• See through beads
  
• Tacky glue
  
• Fishing line
  
• And very small piece of a pipe cleaner
  

On the shiny side of the CD place your translucent beads, making a design. (Such as a snowflake.) Glue the beads on with tacky glue. Make sure that you wipe up any excess glue on your CD before it dries. Let the CD dry overnight.

The next day, attach fishing line to the center of the CD. With the small piece of pipe cleaner, twist into a circle. Tie the other end of the fishing line to the pipe cleaner. (I know, a snowflake is not very summery. I thought that this would be an easy design to do. Just like Christmas in July!)

When the light hits the CD, it makes a rainbow, which reminds us about God’s promises. (God promised Noah that there would never be another worldwide flood. He used a rainbow to remind us of the promise.)

Mr. Sun

This is an easy sun craft that a preschooler could do. 

You will need;

• Yellow tissue paper
• A paper plate
• Yellow, red, blue, black construction paper
• A glue stick

On yellow construction paper, cut a circle that will fit in the center of the paper plate.

Also, cut out eyes with the blue and black construction paper and a mouth with red construction paper. I didn’t add a nose, but you could.

Cut strips of yellow tissue paper 5 inches long by 3/4 inch wide. Make a point on the ends. Glue the paper on the rim of the plate so that they hang over the edge.

Glue the construction paper circle to the center. Glue on the facial features. Now your sun can shine down on you. (You are my sunshine, my beautiful sunshine……)

Sundial Watch

Use the sun to tell time with this watch! Now you won’t be late. Well, maybe the watch needs more calibration.

You will need;

• Construction paper
  
• Cardboard
  
• Makers
  
• Push pin
  
• Tape
  

To make the wristband, cut an 11 3/4 by 3 inch piece of construction paper. Cut a triangular shape on one end.

To make the buckle, cut out a piece of paper 1 inch by 4 inches.  Fold about 1/2 inch on the two short ends.

Make a roll of tape and tape each end to the watch (the piece with the triangle on the end).

Wrap the paper around your wrist and slide the triangle through the buckle. Make a pencil mark on the watch about 8 inches from the triangle. Take the watch off and cut a slit where your pencil line is.

Cut a circle out of cardboard that will fit on the watchband. Cut a white piece of paper that fits on the cardboard. With a glue stick, glue the white paper to the cardboard.

With a maker, make a sunny face in the center but don’t go all the way to the edge if you want to later add numbers.

Push the pushpin through the center of your cardboard. On the bottom of the cardboard, tape more cardboard so that if the pushpin goes through, it won’t hurt you. When the sun hits the pushpin, it will make a shadow.

Tape the sun on the watchband next to the triangle end. Now go outside to see what time it is.

One thing that was not mentioned in this craft is how to use this to tell time. If you want numbers, you need to go outside at noon and mark where the shadow is. Then do the same thing every hour. You will need to do this on a sunny day. Anyway, this is a fun project to do and would be great for anyone who is learning about sundials!

So if it is raining outside, come in and do some sun crafts with your kids. Then enjoy your projects on the next sunny day.

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