DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Suncatcher Pig Craft

Contributed by Leanne Guenther

This idea can be modified for many different crafts.  Try making a cross for Bible study, a rainbow on a rainy day, a valentine, a snowman, a butterfly, or anything else you can come up with!

Materials:

• white glue (children's glue) -- this is a good use for the bottom dredges of the glue bottle since you don't need to be careful where it splurts.
• tissue paper or napkins (preferably pink),
• black marker or scraps of black tissue paper or construction paper
• margarine container lid (it doesn't need to be seethrough!)

You can do a really big suncatcher the same way using a bigger lid (ice cream container lid, for example).  It would take a lot of glue though.

Instructions:

• Turn your margarine container upside down (so it makes a shallow bowl)
  • Squeeze white glue into the margarine container lid (you can take the lid off a bottle with just a bit of glue in it and pour it out instead of squeezing it out).
  • Swish it around with a popsicle stick or your fingers so the entire lid is covered with glue
  • The rim of the lid will keep the glue from oozing everywhere and will give your suncatcher shape
  • The thicker you make the glue, the sturdier your finished craft will be, but the less see-through (more bubbly) it will be. 
    • I did mine with my 2 yr old, so we made it quite thick...  For once at craft time she didn't get told "oh gosh!  that's enough glue honey!"  
    • She was quite tickled to be able to squeeze out glue to her heart's content.
• Set in a safe place to dry.  This will take a day or two.   It's fun to check back every so often to see how it's doing and if you've caught any little bugs in your glue *oops* (did I mention I have a lot of houseplants?) ...  Pick them out with a toothpick if you do).
• Now that it is dry, we're going to arrange our pig face on top.
  • For young children: 
    • Cut a circle and 2 triangles out of tissue paper.  Have them put the circle in the center of the lid with the triangles arranged as ears.
    • You can dip a toothpick in water and touch it lightly to the tissue paper once it is sitting where you want it to.  This will keep it from moving around (don't use too much water though!)
  • For older children:
    • Cut a whole bunch of small pieces of tissue paper with different curves and shapes.
    • Have the kids arrange them into a circle (you can overlap the pieces).
    • Do the same to make two triangular ears.
    • The more pieces you overlap, the darker the color will be.   So if you want the ears or the snout darker, add more tissue paper.
    • Again, dot water on with a toothpick to get it to stay where you want it.
• Take a small piece of pink tissue paper and draw on a mouth with marker.  Lay it on the head (don't dip water on this piece as the marker will run).
• Take another small piece and draw on two nostrils and two more pieces for eyes (or use small bits of black paper for eyes and nostrils).
• Once your pig face is arranged, squeeze glue over top to cover the whole thing.  Don't swish it around with your fingers as this might disturb the face.  You can tilt the lid this way and that to help spread the glue around.
• Set aside to dry again (another day or two).
• Pop the suncatcher out of the lid (it comes out pretty easily) and hang on your window with a small piece of scotch tape.
• If there's a "rim" of glue on your suncatcher, you can cut it off with scissors.  You can actually cut your suncatcher into a different shape if you want (a heart, a cross, etc).