Adding some color and happiness to our view as we look out at a dreary winter day makes everyone smile. Adding window clings adds a little holiday or seasonal joy and the kids love them.
You can find them at your local discount store or corner drug store, but why not make your own? Or better yet, let the kids create them! You can customize them with your own designs and your own colors and personal artistic flair.
It only takes a few ingredients, most of which you already have around the house. With just with a little creative thinking and some drying time it’s as easy as coloring or filling in a paint by number.
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To make Homemade Window Clings you’ll need:
I found all these at my local Dollar Tree, you can purchase online and in bulk if you wish or shop your craft cupboard! For five dollars or less you have the makings for hours of fun and beautiful window art, too!
Once you have all your supplies gathered, the process is easy. First, I recommend covering your work surface with a plastic cloth or piece of cardboard. Poster board works great. The mess is minimal, and having a disposable or washable work surface makes clean up a breeze.
The first step is to tint your glue, unless you want clear window clings. Unscrew the lid and set aside for a moment.
Add a few drops of food coloring. I think we added 10 drops or so. For lighter tint, add fewer drops, for darker tint add more. I recommend choosing 3 basic colors, to keep things simple. My daughter and I chose to make a bottle of green, a bottle of blue, and leave one bottle white (which dries clear.) We used our bottle of glitter glue to add details and sparkles to our designs.
Replace the caps on each bottle so they don’t dry out. Set aside until you have your design template ready.
You will need a clear plastic surface of some sort to “draw” on. You’ll be place a picture or template under the plastic surface to use as your drawing lines.
A report cover or page protector works great. This would be the quickest and easiest option, but you can tape plastic wrap or wax paper to your work surface and slip your template underneath.
A children’s coloring book is a great place to find simple designs to use as templates for your window clings. you can also create your own by drawing shapes and pictures on paper or even tracing your child’s own artwork.
With Christmas just around the corner we found a fun coloring/activity book to use. We found stockings and snowflakes and snowmen and Christmas trees and … well, you get the picture.
Place your template under (or in) the plastic sleeve, making sure it lays flat. Use a bit of tape at corners if needed to keep in place.
Now, using the squeeze bottle of glue in the desired color, outline your design. You’ll want to make sure the outlines connect, so you do not have glue running out when you begin filling in.
Now let the glue “flood” inside the outline. Remember the glue will run and fill in blank spaces, so don’t overdo it. You can come back and take care of any blank spots as needed.
If you want detail to show through, trace them first with desired colors and fill in the background afterward.
If you get little air bubbles, use a toothpick to break them. A toothpick also comes in handy (we used a wooden skewer) to help ‘guide’ the glue into sharp little corners and around the details.
The next step is the hardest part. Leave your creation to dry. Leave them undisturbed at least overnight. Drying time varies and will depend on many things – temperature, humidity, thickness of glue and brand of glue. In our experience, the glitter glue took longer to dry, so we were happy we used it only for adding small details.
As they dry, the glue becomes transparent/translucent. When you can see through the glue, you’ll be able to peel it off the plastic surface and place it on your windows or any glass surface. We like to let the sun shine in through our window clings, but you might try them on vases or mirrors, too.
My kids love playing with gel clings. They also like hands-on activities. When they get bored being cooped up indoors in the cold winter months, we like to try activities like this. It’s an easy an inexpensive activity that keeps them occupied for hours.
Do you decorate with window clings? If you were to make your own what designs would you choose?
I love playing with glue, so I am all over this!! I know a lot of parents who would like to do this too. Great for fine motor skills.
I confess to having flashbacks to my childhood (happy memories) while peeling glue off my fingertips 😉 You are so right, Terri – great for all ages, and for fine motor skills, too!
Such a fun activity idea! We used to “paint” our windows using liquid window wax that my mom would color with food coloring when we were kids. I have been looking for that wax for years to continue the tradition with my kids but I just can not find it anywhere. We’ll have to try this instead. Thanks so much for sharing with us at the Virtual Refrigerator. Pinned.
That’s really neat! I never thought about making our own window clings – now I wish I had! PInned. 🙂