It’s sometimes hard to find art activities that you can do with kids under the age of 4, but this one will be a sure hit! I made this with 2-year-olds and with a 4-year-old, but I think you could do it with kids a little younger as well as older. This activity is easy to prepare, easy to clean up and doesn’t involve glue! It took us about 45 minutes to finish this, so hopefully your kiddos will have a little bit of patience.
Step 1: Find a simple shape that you want to use to create your faux stained glass. I chose a flower just because I already had a piece of cardboard in that shape and I knew we could choose any colors and it would still look pretty. You can make this as big or as little as you want, but you want to make sure that the shape you choose doesn’t need any detail in the middle and can survive on just an outline.
Step 2: Once you’ve picked your shape, cut it out and then trace it onto a piece of black construction paper. Cut out the shape.
Step 3: Next you will need to create the thin border of the shape. I used a pencil to draw lightly inside of the shape a little ways from the edge all the way around. I then poked a hole in the middle and cut around the shape on the new line that I had drawn. You should now just have a thin outline of your shape with the black construction paper.
Step 4: Cut two pieces of contact paper that are the same size, but about half an inch bigger than your shape on each side. You need the extra space around the edge so your picture will stay laminated together.
Step 5: Let your child pick a few different colors of tissue paper that they want to use for their stained glass image. I wanted to keep it simple so each child picked 3 colors. Cut the tissue paper into small squares (it doesn’t have to be perfect), mix their 3 colors together and place them in a little container to keep things tidy.
Step 6: Now you will peel the backing on one of the pieces of contact paper and you will place your image outline onto the contact paper. Have your kiddo place their tissue paper pieces inside of the image. Try to keep the tissue paper flat and not use little crumpled pieces. You should have your child fill in the whole inside of the image, allowing for the pieces to overlap.
Step 7: Once your child has finished, take the backing off of the other piece of contact paper and place the sticky side on top of your stained glass image carefully so you don’t get wrinkles or bumps. You will then cut the excess contact paper around the image, but make sure you leave a little space so the contact paper stays together around the edge.
Voila! Hang them in the window so the sun can shine through the pretty colors!