Sun Catchers? Ummm, it’s Chicago. Let’s just call them “Light Catchers.”

January 27, 2010

In the cloudy gloom that is January in Chicago, the kids and I decorated “light catchers” made of gently used tissue paper left over from the holiday season. The varied designs, colors and personalization of the finished product added some much-needed color to the windows of the club’s art room.

Step-by-Step

To give variety to the project (for both girls and boys), I drew about ten different traceable patterns from used file folders. The patterns included hearts, lizards, the Chicago skyline, flowers, fish and saguaro cacti (inspired by a recent trip to Tucson).

I asked the kids to pick out their favorite pattern, a “background” color (two sheets of construction paper), and a contrasting color of tissue paper. (After the holidays, I had every color under the rainbow available for the taking, even some funky Christmas prints!) 

The kids traced their selected pattern on two sheets of construction paper, cut out the interiors of each, leaving a frame of sorts. Next, they laid the tissue paper between the two pieces of construction paper, gluing it down close to the shape’s edge. From there, we (gently) decorated the tissue paper with markers and, of course, glitter.

When finished, we cut the construction paper about an inch off from the shape’s edge, leaving a semi-translucent light catcher with a boldly colored outline and a decorated center. With the help of a paper punch and some string, we had some very fun window decorations!