Dandelion Sun Catcher

A few weeks ago we shared our Dandelion Soup play invitation, which was a great way to use some of the dandelions in our yard. Of course, after the dandelions turned to seed, we couldn't use them in quite the same way. Instead, we created a couple of these Dandelion Sun Catchers.

Several times now we've made paper plate sun catchers from nature as inspired by these nature collage paper plate sun catchers from Hands On: As We Grow. 

Materials: paper plates (2 for each sun catcher), clear contact paper, white glue, ribbon, scissors and a hole punch.

To begin with, I cut a large circle out of the center of each paper plate. I also cut out clear contact paper circles which were slightly larger than the circles on each paper plate. (2 for each sun catcher.) 

Carefully I peeled off the paper backing from one of the contact paper circles and used a little bit of white glue to attach it to the paper plate by centering the contact paper over the hole of the plate. (I repeated again to make another paper plate that looked just the same.) 

Then the fun began. The boys carefully carried their plates outside and we began looking for dandelions. Once we found them they held the plates in front of themselves and blew the seeds onto the contact paper. 

Both boys repeated several times with more dandelions. Often our projects tend to engage Big Brother a little longer, but this time it was Little Brother was the most interested in continuing the project and blowing dandelions. It was definitely a very toddler friendly project! 

After both boys felt like they were all done blowing dandelions, we peeled the second contact paper circle and placed it on top of the one with the dandelions. We then used a little bit more white glue and added it onto the top of the other plate. After the glue dried we used a hole punch to make a hole near the top of each plate and threaded on a ribbon. 

When we hung up the sun catchers in our window the dandelion part looked almost a little like a frosted glass pattern. 

We're still enjoying how pretty they look in our windows. The whole project was so quick and easy to prep too, it will definitely be a repeat over the summer months. And of course, just like with our last dandelion project, there usually is not a limited supply of dandelions!

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