Let the Sun Shine In - Easy Earth Day Craft

Earth Day is coming up! April 22nd.

 

We've been trying to decorate our living room window thematically each month. So we've worked on some Earth Day themed decorations.

 

I came up with this one while at my parents over Easter Holidays. Unfortunately my camera has just about breathed it's last breath so I don't have step-by-step photos. I took a pic of the final product using my webcam:

 

Earth Day Suncatcher

 

You will need:

• Picture of Earth
• Clear contact paper*
• Scissors
• Playdough (blue and green)**
• Rolling pin

*If you don't have clear contact paper you can use wax paper. It will stick to the playdough. However, your suncatcher won't be as transparent and I imagine once the playdough dries a bit the paper won't stick to it.

**If you don't have playdough, make some. A good child-friendly no-cook recipe is to mix 1 cup flour with 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup water. Mix until doughy then add food colouring and knead until smooth. You only need about 1/10th of this for this craft so you can make a smaller batch if you prefer.

How to:

1. Show your child the picture of the earth. Discuss its shape (spherical or round). Show them how the majority of the Earth is blue because it is covered in water. Talk about how the green land (continents)is surrounded by water.
2. Double over your contact paper. Trace a plate or other round object or freehand cut a circle. You will need two circles for each child.
3. Pinch off small pieces of playdough. Explain that we will use more blue than green because there is more water than land on the earth.
4. Peel the paper off of one contact paper circle.
5. Have your child place small amounts of playdough sticky side of the circle. They don't need to cover the entire surface as it will squish out. Remind them to make islands or continents of green surrounded by blue.
6. Have your child squish the playdough with the heel of their hand.
7. Peel the paper off of the other contact paper circle and lay (sticky side down) over the playdough.
8. Press down and smooth out.
9. Roll over with the rolling pin. Excess playdough will seep out the edges. Once it's perfectly flat, trim the edges.

It lets the light through really well and looks beautiful. If we had any sun you could see how well it works as a suncatcher. We're just hoping it will catch us some sun.