DIY Sun-Catchers (Play Date Edition)!

Oh my heavens, peeps!

It was another busy day.

And also, another day when we could feel the steady drumbeat of the school year from a (not-so-far-off) distance.

Probably because Chica had her second of three choir rehearsals this week, for part of a convocation/school year kick-off event she’s involved in for our district, and we had to take her to our local high school down the street!

Despite her small bit of anxiety going back in to an official school environment (pretty normal after summer break)—and an unfamiliar school building, no less—the moment she spotted a handful of her friends, she was A-okay and smiling her sweet little smile.

So.

We were definitely in an up-and-at-‘em kind of school day mode.

Definitely at a school building for this rehearsal event.

And definitely at Target later, going through the aisles, cruising for any school year items we might need.

But we’re feeling totally solid on that front, with no buying-spree or items that we really need to snag, so the countdown is really not stressing us at all.

Which means more fun for ongoing summer things—like our happy, weekly play date!

Since we’ve done a handful of play inside/swim outside rounds, we decided to switch it up today and do the standard playroom time. Then a craft. And then a fun “movie” kind of event. And, as usual,, our gaggle is kiddos was so hyped to be together!

For today’s project, I decided to try out these sweet little DIY sun-catchers that look like lovely stained glass to me, and they turned out SO beautifully!

I sourced the idea from basically the only blog I follow, and the instructions seemed easy-peasy—with just a tiny bit of preparation.

First, I ordered a box full of spare mason jar lids (in gold, which was a lovely color for these)…



And then I used the lid to trace circles in standard paper, that I then cut out and decorated with random, coolio patterns…



In the future, when we do this again (and I know we will!) I’ll probably let my kiddos do all of the above steps themselves. But knowing we would be doing this in the midst of a raucous play date, I knew it might be best to handle some of the prep ahead of time.

Which left the cutie pies to color up a storm…

Then all that was needed was a swipe (from a cotton ball) of olive oil across their finished circle.

I’m not sure why exactly this step is needed. Perhaps to make the colors more vibrant? Make them bleed a bit on the paper? Make them more translucent? 

It truly didn’t matter because what kid doesn’t like swiping some liquid on a cotton ball and getting a bit messy, ha.

Then I superglued their circle in to the mason jar lid (that I’d already glued hanging string to) and…voila!





Seriously, so lovely and easy.

I already have so many ideas for fun modifications. I have some fun Halloween mosaics in mind, and these would for sure double as lovey Christmas ornaments.

Also. Next time, I’ll use more delicate string (I couldn’t find my twine today and thought my other available string might be too lightweight) so the attention can stay on the mosaic and not the string holding it up.



So…all the kiddos seemed really happy with their finished products. And that left us to our final play date activity, which involved candy, popcorn and coziness. :)



All of our kiddos LOVE Crikey! so we watched a special, recent episode and let them munch to their hearts’ content.

Seriously another lovely summer day, and we’ve all been so grateful for this weekly play date touchstone with this particular family.

And—major bonus: anytime they’re coming over, I get to con my kiddos into cleaning up the playroom. Win/win!



Happy Almost Friday, peeps!

Over and out.