Toddler Craft Activity – Flower Sun Catcher

Are you looking for an easy toddler craft that doesn’t take a lot of time setting or tidying up? Try this simple and fun craft with your toddler to celebrate and learn all about the summer season.

I love to do craft activities with my toddler, but I don’t love those that take an extreme amount of time to set up, uses craft materials I would not normally have, or that takes a long time clearing up afterwards. I am always on the hunt for ideas which my toddler will engage with and that’s fun for me, too. This flower sun catcher ticks those boxes and looks pretty on a window too.

This version creates a flower with a border, however can be done easily without if you would prefer. I have listed the materials and steps below.

Materials

• Coloured tissue paper (yellow, red, orange) cut into rough square shapes
• Construction or coloured paper (for border). I find using darker colours work best.
• A pen/pencil
• Scissors
• A laminating pouch & laminator or alternatively use contact paper

How to

Step 1: If you wish for a border, draw a flower outline onto your choice of coloured construction paper. Draw another line on the inside of the shape about 2 cm wide (see picture below).

If you do not wish to use a border simply draw a flower shape onto the laminating pouch or contact paper directly and skip to step 4.

Step 2: Cut along the outside and then the inside of the border. It should look something like the one above.

Step 3: Place the flower outline onto a laminating pouch, or alternatively use contact paper on this step, sticky side up.

Step 4: Have your child choose a colour of tissue paper to stick inside the flower shape – no glue necessary. Allow your child to continue adding the tissue paper shapes until the entire flower is filled with colour!

Step 5: If using a laminator pouch, place the top of the pouch over the finished design and run through the laminator. If using contact paper, peel and stick on top of the flower.

Step 6: Carefully cut out the shape around the board – the artwork is now complete and can be placed on a window. Enjoy the sun shining through!

How this supports their development

Physical – fine motor skills. Children can begin to use scissors to cut along lines or cut up tissue paper. Alternatively, they can tear the paper which is also great for those finger muscles. Picking up the smaller tissue paper squares helps to develop a child’s pincer grasp.

Expressive arts and design. Children can enjoy choosing their own colours and creating their own flower design using the tissue paper.

Understanding the world. Children can observe the light through the tissue paper and notice how the sun catcher looks different on cloudy days. Talk to your child about what flowers need to grow and which flowers are best grown in the summer time.

How we played

My daughter is currently 2 and half and really enjoyed adding the different colours to her flower. She is still developing how to hold scissors correctly, so this was good practice for this. You could allow more independence by asking your child to draw their own picture on the contact paper/laminating pouch before adding the tissue paper.

I think this is a really great craft activity for both younger and older children and creates a really beautiful piece of art to have on display. If you enjoyed this, perhaps you could try a sunshine shape next time, or another image that reminds you of summer. Let me know in the comments if you’ve had a go and share some of our children’s beautiful artwork. Happy Crafting 🙂

If you liked this and are on the look out for more early years activities, have a read of the ice cream sensory play set up here: https://theeducatormum.co.uk/how-to-set-up-an-ice-cream-sensory-play-tray/