Flower Petal Sun Catchers

Everyday at Art and Soul we journey through the wonderful world of art and art making.  Sometimes it is just a sensory exploration of paint on paper at an easel, on a rock, in the snow, or on our hands.  Other times we find ourselves involved in printmaking, collaging, candle making or simply cutting paper for the fun and skill of using scissors and seeing how they deconstruct and manipulate paper.

I would like this blog to offer parents at home some projects that they can try out with their own children, or for parent's of the children at Art and Soul to see their children in the act of making the art they bring home or place in their school art books.   Enjoy the process.

Flower Petal Sun Catchers

Materials:
A heavy card stock or cardboard...in this case a pizza box worked well. 
Contact paper
Paints
Flower petals, feather, pictures, whatever flat object you would like to use.

The Process:
I cut the the card board into circles, but any frame shape will work.  I also cut two pieces of contact paper into circles, one the size of the cardboard frame and one the size of the opening. 

The children then get their paint palettes, which at the school are little trays that have deep sections in them so that they can experiment with mixing colors.  I also have the kids pick their colors, they know what they like and get very excited about having the option to pick the color paints they would like to work with.  We spend sometime before painting just letting them mix paints and explore.

Next, they were given their circles and they started painting right away.

After they finish their paintings we let them dry as we walk into the garden to get some flower petals to use.
As the children pluck the petals from the flowers, I attach the large circle of contact paper so that the sticky side is facing out. and then the fun of sticking the flower petals to the clear circle begins.

The next step is to place the smaller circle of contact paper on top of the flower petals face down.

Have the children smooth out the bubbles so that the  flowers preserve themselves better.

After the sun catchers are finished, the kids beaded wire hanger attachments.  As a jeweler I of course love seeing them bead, but it is a great way for them to work on hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and concentration.