When the warm autumn leaves have already withered away from the biting winds of Beijing’s winter, it’s the perfect time to brighten up your windows with lovely leaf suncatchers! As Percy Bysshe Shelley says: “O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?”
For this Maker’s Corner, we have Adam, a 7-year-old student from Beijing City International School (BCIS), along with Nan Zhang, ES Visual Art and Performance Art Teacher, to show us how to decorate our home with a beautiful and easy-to-make leaf suncatcher for this December.
All the materials are easy to get and almost any color works for this project. Please note that the instructions below are only guidelines. Feel free to encourage your kids to use their creativity to bring these leaves to life!
A black marker
Colored tissue papers
Clear contact paper
Scissors
Glue stick or double-sided tape
Black construction paper (optional)
1. You can choose to print out a leaf template and cut the outline out. Or use a black marker to draw a leaf outline on white card and cut it out (folding the leaf in the middle might make it easier to get a symmetrical shape).
2. You will need 2 identical leaf outlines for each suncatcher. Then place one leaf outline onto the sticky side of a piece of contact paper.
3. Cut tissue paper into small pieces and layer the tissue paper pieces onto the clear contact paper. Don’t worry if you go outside of the outline, this will get trimmed off later!
4. Using a glue stick, glue the second leaf outline on top of the tissue paper.
5. Place another piece of clear contact paper on top and press down to smooth out any bubbles. Trim the excess contact paper with scissors.
6. Stick your leaf suncatcher onto a window with double-sided tape and enjoy the light of the sun’s rays through the tissue paper!
This article appeared in the beijingkids December 2019 Giving Back issue
