Suncatchers for Kids to Make

Whatever side of the world you are on, this time of year feels like a time when we need to soak up all the sun we can. Bring a little sunshine into your home or classroom with these suncatcher crafts kids can make. (They’d also be fun Mother’s Day presents or teacher appreciation gifts.)

If you’re making these at home and want to go the super easy route, you can buy a kit of Perler bead suncatchers, which has the peg board, pattern sheet and all the beads you need to make several suncatchers. They aren’t super see through but they are pretty to hang in a window. Or use the supplies you have to make designs of your choosing.

Speaking of supplies you already have, if you have a lot of pony beads you can also melt them down into a suncatcher using silicone molds or an old muffin tin. Check out the instructions from One Little Project (and as noted please do this with a toaster oven you can take outside since melting plastic fumes are nasty).

One Little Project has another pretty one done with flat glass pieces, which I feel like I have a ton of in my house so that would be an easy one for most people to do. If you don’t have glass beads you can easily find them at a dollar store.

Probably the easiest suncatcher idea here, and one that kids can do pretty much on their own, is this one using a coloring page from 100 Directions. As shown the pages are just printed on regular printer paper, but it might be fun to experiment with tracing the design onto tracing paper, parchment or even tissue paper to see how different kinds of paper allow the light through.

Another easy one involves going on a nature walk to make the sun shaped suncatcher craft from Fox Farm Home. These are so pretty with petals and grasses in them, but you could do a similar project any time of year with whatever relatively flat objects you can find outside.

These upcycled plastic suncatchers were made for Earth Day, but you can make them any time of year with different designs drawn on them. Use clip art as a guide or just let kids color them. Get all the details from Books and Giggles.

Pony Bead Suncatcher

Butterfly Suncatchers

Daffodil Suncatchers

Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

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