Earth Day is right around the corner, so I’m already thinking of fun ways to craft with reusable items from around the house. I decided on these absolutely gorgeous nature suncatchers that kids can help make. These suncatchers do not require glue, tape, staples, or sticky contact paper! So how did we make these?! I’ll share the really cool and simple process below.
We are so excited with how simple this recycled art project is and how gorgeous they turned out! They look so pretty hanging in our home and the pieces of nature look so neat with light shinning through the window. I feel even better about this project because we are reusing pieces of plastic containers and plastic wrap that would have otherwise gone to the recycling bin. We love our new decoration and know you will too!
Ready to make a few nature suncatchers?! Here’s what you’ll need..
Supplies:
- Branch
- Shapes cut out of a plastic lid
- Plastic wrap
- String
- Paper punch
- Pressed pieces of nature. Grab them from your garden or order already pressed flowers and leaves.
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Here’s How We Made Our Nature Suncatchers:
Take the labels off of your plastic containers and draw simple shapes on the containers to cut out. I suggest drawing circles and ovals. We tried crescent moons and stars, but the pointy edges were difficult to work with during the plastic wrap step.
This plastic organic broccoli lid is about to get a makeover!
Step 2:
Arrange pressed flowers and leaves on the piece of plastic. Kids will love helping with this step! It’s a great way for kids to get creative and connect with nature!
If you don’t know how to press nature, you can check out the steps HERE or you can purchase already pressed pieces of nature on Amazon. We used the leaves and flowers from Amazon because we don’t have flowers to press yet. Hopefully in a couple of weeks our wild violets will make an appearance! The leaves from the pack were pretty delicate to handle but look so lovely in the nature suncatchers.
Step 3:
Put a piece of plastic wrap on top of the flowers and piece of plastic. You will see that I don’t have a ton of excess plastic wrap. Too much will be difficult to work with in step 4.
Press the plastic wrap on the plastic piece and gently run your fingers over the pieces of nature to flatten the plastic wrap out. Yes, the plastic wrap will stick to the piece of plastic just like it does when you put it on your leftover dishes after dinner!
Step 4:
Flip your nature suncatchers over and wrap the excess plastic wrap around the piece of plastic. You just need a little bit to secure it to the other side. You will be surprised to see how well this works! Try to experiment with different amounts of plastic wrap. Just make sure to trim away unnecessary pieces of wrap.
Step 5:
Punch a little whole at the top of the suncatcher and tie a piece of string through it to so it can be hung. We hung ours from a beautiful piece of drift wood and it’s hanging from our living room window. This beautiful piece of recycled art makes me smile each and every time I walk past it!
For some reason, these are really difficult to photograph, but I tried my best:) These photos don’t do this craft justice! As you can see, you can barely even make out the plastic wrap. The little bit that you can see, make it look like a piece of stained glass!
It’s difficult to choose, but I think this might be my favorite suncatcher!
We took our nature suncatchers outside to see how they looked hanging from our bush and they look so pretty! They would make a beautiful decoration for an outdoor party.
Check out this gorgeous suncatcher in the middle! These flowers are so beautiful and vibrant! I started thinking these would be beautiful with tissue paper too.
Pin it and save it for later!
I hope you give this nature suncatcher craft a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.
∼Tara
