Play Dough Sun Catchers

Today we were playing with play dough in a different way.  We decided to make sun catchers with it.

For this activity you will need play dough (handmade or store bought) and clear contact paper.


First you want to cut your contact paper to the size you want it. I taped my daughters page down to the counter and then in the end used a bigger piece of  contact paper for the top and kept the white tape around the edges.  For my sons I ended up cutting his smaller so there was not white tape edges.  Either way was good.  I think the key is to have the contact paper that you cover the working surface with be bigger so you can fold it over the back a little to make sure it sticks really well.  

I talked to my kids a bit about thin and thick.  To make the sun catchers work best you want to apply a thin layer of play dough to one of the contact papers (sticky side up.)  I showed them how small a ball of clay can be spread thin and makes for a lot of color on the paper.  2 year old = did not get, 5 year old = sort of got it, 7 year old =did pretty good.

Ally (7) created her famous flower in the sun scene.  James (5) went a little abstract and Grace (2) mixed up all the play dough into a big ball in the end and had to try cutting it like we did with the GAK.  

The end results are very pretty.  The sun shines through them and makes a very nice picture.  It looked really good next to a light in a dark room.  James thought they were glowing in the dark when they were just catching the light.

I often link to these parties 
 Did you like this post? Please click here to place your vote for me at the Parents Magazine best craft blog contest.