Crafts, Kids

DIY Sun Catchers

DIY Sun Catchers Feature Image

One snowed-in day in this frigid Iowa winter, school was cancelled and my daughter wanted to paint sun catchers. There was just one problem: we didn’t have any. Even the snow plows were waiting to clear the roads. We could wait and eventually get to the store to buy some, but who knows how stir-crazy we would become by then? And she had already requested a custom design that doesn’t exist. So, we made our own!

But how, you ask? With PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and black puffy paint! PVC is the clear plastic sheet used for packaging on lots of products you probably buy already. I used some that I had saved from my cell phone case box, and toy packages from Christmas.

You will need:

Materials
PVC
Black Puffy Paint
Sun Catcher Paints
Suction Cup Hooks (or string, depending where you will hang it)

Supplies
Paper (and printer if not making your own design)
Double-Stick Tape
Scissors (or Xacto knife + cutting mat)
Hole Punch

For the designs you can use my FREE printable (a fox, butterfly, or cherries), draw your own, or use Google Image Search for clip art. Keep the design fairly simple so that it won’t be too difficult to make the lines. Make sure to add a little circle or space at the top so that you can add a hole for hanging. You can make it any size you like; just keep in mind your PVC size and how much paint you will need.

Once you have it drawn or printed on paper, place the PVC on top (using a piece of double-stick tape to keep it from sliding around), and trace the lines with puffy paint.

TIP: Squeezing the puffy paint bottle should NOT hurt your hand! If you find it difficult to squeeze, hit it nozzle-down on a flat surface firmly to bring the paint down toward the nozzle, then you won’t have to squeeze hard. I wish I had realized this earlier!

You will have to let it dry for a few hours (the instructions recommended overnight but I didn’t find that necessary). After it’s dry, cut out the design then use your hole punch to make a hole where it will hang.

The last part can be done by the kiddos: painting the colors! Paint then allow to dry again (this time I did let it dry overnight), hang up in the sun, and enjoy the catching! What did you create? How did it turn out? Let me know with a comment!

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