Summer ~Wk 1~ Nature Pt. 2 Sun catchers made with nature

We of course, incorporated nature into the crafts/activities we did this week as well.

I enjoyed looking around the web and finding so many fun things.  It makes planning themed weeks so much easier when you can see things that have already be created, tested, loved and liked by other children.   

I loved the idea I found and pinned here on a great idea for "Sun catchers made with Nature".  I knew my kids would love the idea of finding the things to add to our sun catchers.  So, while we were out on our nature walk, doing a scavenger hunt, looking for items to paint with, we also wanted to find things to add to our sun catchers.  We were busy looking for a lot of items and it was fun to see the kids choose things for one activity over another and give their suggestions/ideas as to why one might work better over the other.  

It really is simple and we didn't divert to far from the original post, other than I couldn't find contact paper (I didn't look super hard thought either), so we just used packaging tape.  I laid the tape on the back side of the paper plate so the sticky side was up and they could stick everything to it.  

We used leaves, moss, sticks, pieces of pinecones, flowers, stems, oh yeah and Ev thought an entire cat tail needed to be added to his.  He loved doing this activity and he isn't one for structured activities and we've struggled to find things that he'd like to do that doesn't feel too much like school.

I just used the plates that we had at home from a previous birthday party so it was a super inexpensive activity and it was a lot of fun (as I mentioned) to go out and find the things we'd include in the sun catcher. 

 The kids were very proud of their finished products (of course) so we hung them up on the side of our hard top.  A few times I would catch Ev taking a minute to look at his sun catcher and see the way the sun was shining through the leaves (you could see the veins of the leaves), we even notices a few bugs caught in between the tape when it was all said and done.

Hanging from the hardtop

I'm really happy they enjoyed doing this simple and easy craft and they've now come up with a few more ideas on how we can make sun catchers for at home.

You can find the original post for this craft at a fantastic site called Hands on: as we grow (link to the original post).

-Kandice