Nature Walk Sun Catcher

Happy Earth Day, hope you didn’t blow away. Geez it was windy around here today. We didn’t blow away, even though we did take a family walk to the park to play and then had a little nature walk around our neighborhood looking at plants and trees, talking about how important it is to take care of the world around us and collecting little pieces of nature to make a beautiful sun catcher.

When we arrived home we had a sweet little collection of flowers, grass and leaves and lots and lots of dandelions. What can I say she still thinks they are beautiful. So we ate a little lunch and then set to work making our sun catcher filled with our treasures from our walk.

Supplies needed to make a nature walk sun catcher:

• wax paper
• flowers, grass, leaves, and other things found on a nature walk that can be pressed flat
• construction paper
• glue
• iron
• ironing board
• scrap paper larger than the wax paper you intend to use

How to make a nature walk sun catcher

Step 1: Take a nature walk around a park, your neighborhood or your yard. While exploring collected flowers, leaves, plants, grass and other things that can be pressed flat. Remember to be careful when removing leaves and flowers from plants as not to harm the plants. Try to keep the things you collect smaller in size, things like leaves and dandelions are good size for this activity.

Step 2: Pre-heat the iron to a low heat setting it won’t take very high heat to melt the wax paper together.

Step 3: Cut wax paper to the size of your choice. You’ll need two pieces of the same size and shape. We used two 10-12 inch squares for our sun catcher.

Step 4: Lay the items you collected out on the wax paper. Flatten flowers and blooms so the heads lay flat and the petals are visible.

Step 5: Slide a piece of scrap paper under the wax paper with the flowers and grass spread about. Try not to move the placement of the items on the wax paper. Use the scrap paper to transfer the wax paper and plants to the ironing board leaving the scrap paper under the wax paper to ensure that wax doesn’t end up in your ironing board later on. I used a calendar because it was sturdy enough to hold the large piece of wax paper with all the flowers on it.

Step 6: Place the second sheet of wax paper over the top of the first creating a sort of sandwich with the plants and flowers. Line up the wax paper as best as you can. Lay a second piece of scrap paper over the top of the wax paper sandwich. Place the warm iron on the scrap paper and press down. Leave the iron in one place for a few seconds before moving to a new spot. Work your way over the whole wax paper sandwich. By doing this you will be essentially melting the wax paper together and pressing the flowers and leaves between the wax paper sheets.

Step 7: Check to make sure the wax has fused together as much as possible all over the sun catcher. If you need to use the iron to touch up to bond here and there do so now.

Step 8: Cut 2-3 inch strips of construction paper in the same length as the sides of your wax paper. Fold the strips in half  length wise. Spread glue over each strip of paper and fold over each side of the sun catcher as a frame.

Step 9: Hang up and enjoy your nature walk artwork.