Sticky Snowman Suncatcher

We have recently had a bit of a switch in our crafting. Generally, my preschooler Sammy and I used to do our crafting in the afternoon while the baby napped. But that baby is now 2. And while he still naps in the afternoon, he also LOVES to craft.

But doing crafts with both a 2-year old and a 4-year old is a bit of an art in itself. They are at very different stages. But my darling toddler does not understand this. And even when I calmly and lovingly explain that he is at a different developmental level than his big brother, he still screams for the scissors. Or the (messy, messy) paint.

But this winter craft was a success with both of my little ones. At the same time! We made cute snowman sun catchers.

To make these snowman sun catchers we simply used:

• contact paper
• construction paper
• cotton balls
• paint (messy, messy paint. But this is optional, unless you have a toddler who has spotted the paint already.)

First of all we laid a piece of contact paper on the table, sticky side up, and secured it to the table with a little bit of tape.

Next, we cut out 3 paper snowballs and used the words small, medium, and large as we were cutting them.

The boys put the snowballs on their contact papers as they wished.

Then we added some snow!

We simply took cotton balls and dotted them all over the contact paper.

My toddler was head-over-heels excited about this part. In fact, when he finished his first sheet of contact paper he asked for more—and he kept on dabbing until he saw the paint.

Since we had paint in a visible spot the boys decided we should add some paint features to our snowman. I suggested perhaps we use crayons? But they felt rather strongly about pain, and when my toddler feels strongly about something I really need to consider my options. Cleaning up a little paint? Or dealing with a flailing toddler whipping crayons at my head? Suddenly, the paint didn't seem so bad.

The boys painted on some buttons, a carrot nose, eyes, and a smile. Ben simply enjoyed painting, and Sam was able to practice some counting while he painted on his buttons.

Finally the boys decided the snowman needed arms, and so there was a quick scurry out to find some sticks, which resulted in a quick scurry to the chicken coop to check for eggs, which resulted in some chicken snuggles. Oh, we love our chickens.

Eventually we went back inside, added the little arms to our snowman sun catchers, and popped them up in our window.

This was such a fun craft, full of lots learning opportunities, and easily differentiated for so many ages of children.  A great activity to keep up your sleeve!