How to Make Wax Paper Sun Catchers for Toddlers
Crafts are a great way to engage kids from a very young age and help them channel their energy into something productive. Doing crafts with your toddler is beneficial in a number of ways, from improving manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination to helping him understand the world around him and how it works. Easy sun catchers are a perfect choice, as they make pretty decorations for any occasion or season that a child will be proud to display.
Things You'll Need
- Newspapers
- Wax paper
- Pencil
- Templates or cookie cutters
- Safety scissors
- Oven mitt
- Bell cheese grater
- Large crayons
- Iron
- Hole puncher
- Ribbon
Instructions
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Lay newspapers over your work place to protect your surface. Put a sheet of wax paper down. Help the child trace around a template or cookie cutter to create an outline of the design of your choice. Choose simple shapes, such as circles, diamonds or hearts.
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2
Let your child cut out the shapes with safety scissors. You will need two cut-outs of the same shape for one sun catcher. Don't worry if your child's cutting is not perfect.
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3
Lay one shape on the newspaper in front of you. Put an oven mitt on your child's hand to protect it. Give your child a crayon and the bell grater and show her how to grate the crayon. Let her distribute the crayon shavings over the shape.
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4
Cover the shavings with a matching piece of wax paper. Make sure the edges match up on the two pieces of wax paper as best as possible.
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Cover the sun catcher with a piece of newspaper. Have the child stand aside as you press a preheated iron, set on low, against the newspaper. The wax paper should be directly beneath the newspaper.
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Remove the iron after 10 seconds. Pull back the newspaper gently and check. If the crayon shavings are all melted and sealed between the two wax paper shapes, the sun catcher is done. If not, lay the newspaper over it again and press the iron to it for 5 to 10 more seconds.
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Remove the sun catcher from the newspaper and let it cool as you make more. Punch a hole in the top of each sun catcher when you're done. Give your child pieces of ribbon to thread through the holes. Hang the sun catchers from the ribbon wherever light can shine through them.
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Tips & Warnings
If your toddler has a hard time grating the crayons, offer him colored (unlit) votive candles, which are chunkier and easy to grasp.
Make your sun catchers even more interesting by adding flower petals, leaves or cut strips of colorful tissue paper between the wax paper sheets.
Use your sun catchers as a learning tool by making letters of the alphabet or numbers. Keep them visible in the windows of your child's room where you can reinforce lessons every morning.
Don't let children use hot irons.
Always closely supervise your child when doing crafts.
References
- Photo Credit wax pencils image by sanyal from Fotolia.com
