Heart Suncatcher Decorations

 

Despite not really celebrating Valentine's Day as such, we've been doing quite a few Valentine's-related arts and crafts recently. I wasn't too sure how much of a hit these heart suncatchers would be with my son but he had great fun making them and I even ended up having to cut out more hearts at the end of the activity so he could continue with it. These can be made with very few materials, they take no time at all and they're easy enough for even a one-year-old child to make.

To make them, you will need:

- large coffee filter papers (I bought mine from eBay and I think they were size 4)

- liquid watercolour paints, paints that are slightly watered down, and/or food colouring (we used orange, pink, purple, red and yellow). 

- paint palette/muffin tray/ice cube tray

- scissors

- plastic pipettes/droppers

- kitchen roll

We started by cutting out a number of different-sized hearts out of the flattened coffee filter papers. I placed them on top of one another to enable me to cut out several at once. I put my food colouring into a muffin tin and added a little water to each one. I was a little disappointed with the colours that were created with food colouring, as they were relatively pale. Next time, I'd try watercolours instead to make more vibrant colours or add less water to the food colouring.

Tommy then set to work, drawing up a small amount of food colouring in a pipette and then squirting it onto the filter paper and watching it spread. He added a variety of different colours and enjoyed watching hem as they merged together.

 

Once each heart was finished, we carefully peeled them from the table over and placed them on kitchen roll to dry. Once dry, we stuck them to the window. These would also look lovely dangled on some string from the ceiling or the top of a window.