Earth Day Suncatcher
Materials:
clean plastic lids from margarine containers or other round plastic containers
glue
blue food coloring
green markers
yarn
This craft not only creates beautiful earth suncatchers but also utilizes recycled materials (plastic container lids and half-used glue bottles).
Color the glue blue – If you have half-used glue bottles simply drop a few drops of the blue food coloring in them and shake. You can also pour the glue into containers and drop a few drops of the blue food coloring in and stir.
Pour or squeeze the blue glue into the plastic container lid. Make sure you fill the lid completely with no gaps. Set aside to dry. Depending on how thick you make it, it could take up to 24 hours.
Once the glue is dry, it should easily pop out of the lid. Set it on a piece of wax paper. Use a sewing needle or nail poke a small hole in the top of your glue earth and then let it sit on the wax paper over night to get firmer.
Once firm, using a picture of the earth as a guide, have students draw and color the land on the suncatcher using green markers. Tie a piece of yarn through the hole and hang your earth in a window!
Version for Older Students:
Instead of coloring the land with markers older students can use green glue. When filling the lid with glue they can use the green glue and the blue glue to design pictures of the earth.
Photo credit: Susan Livingston
