Last week in my weekly homeschool wrap up post I mentioned that we made sunprints together. There’s nothing better than keeping your kids entertained, encouraging their creative talents, fostering cooperation, all while teaching them a little patience. And that is exactly what took place one afternoon last week when I called everyone out to the front yard.
I’ve listed the steps so you, too, can make your own sunprints.
1. Walk around the house collecting odds and ends (didn’t know this was going to be a housecleaning exercise as well, did you?). You can have your children do this, but I chose to keep the whole activity a mystery and played the part of the Pied Piper with all the children following long “Wha’tcha doin’ Mom?” “What’s that for, Grandma Linda?” To which I answered “Follow me and you will see!”
2. Grab a handful of construction paper. Colored printer paper works also, but construction paper is way cheaper and the effect occurs more quickly.
3. Find a nice sunny spot. The front lawn on hot summer day is perfect. A sunny window even in the middle of winter works great, too.
4. Allow everyone to dig through and look over the collected treasures. Swapping and trading allowed, even encouraged.
5. Everyone chooses a piece of paper (Mom might want to quickly pray she has everyone’s favorite colors on hand)
5. Instruct each person to lay their found objects on their paper. Encourage them to take a little time shifting and arranging. You want things to lay as flat as possible.
6. Time for another prayer – “Please, Lord, could we have soft breezes until after this project is finished?” The winds did pick up a bit. We were thankful we used plenty of heavy objects.
7. Now is when the lesson in patience comes in. Leave your collages in full sun for 3-4 hours. The longer you leave them, the more defined your images will be.
8. Distract the children. It was 90 degrees the day we made our prints and so it was off to the sprinkler and slip ‘n slide for us!
9. And then comes The Big Reveal! Have everyone take everything off their papers and watch their eyes pop out of the heads with amazement!
I Spy a horse, and a key, and a pair of pliers, a pen and sunglasses . . .
10. Proudly display their masterpieces and have fun identifying all the shapes and pictures created.
I see a dinosaur! What do you see?
You can make a game out of it. Play ‘I Spy’ or quiz Dad when he gets home to see if he can recognize what’s in the picture.
Can you find the spool of string?
This makes a great matching game – see how quickly your child can match all the objects to their images.
So, that’s how you make sunprints!
As a homeschool mom, I recommened you keep this activity in your ‘tool box’ for those crazy, chaotic times in life when it’s difficult to fit regular schooling into your schedule. Today I’m writing over at Homeschool Survival sharing tips on how to survive homeschooling while planning your daughter’s wedding.
Sharing this post along with other wonderful bloggers at: Monday Funday, The Better Mom, Mom’s The Word, TGIF, Mom Tested Family Approved, Grand Social
Oh how fun! What a great idea! I’ll have to save that idea for when I’m babysitting a friend’s child or something! Thanks for linking up to “Making Your Home Sing Monday!”
the perfect thing to keep little munchkins entertained 🙂 I enjoyed many posts from Making Your Home Sing Monday – I’ll see you there again soon!
Looks like a fun experiment too! Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library this week; we are happy to have you!
thanks Ashley 🙂 there are so many great ideas over at Mom’s Library. I’ll be visiting again soon!
What fun! It is in the mid to high 90s here most days lately and we spend lots of time playing in the water to keep cool. This would be such fun for the girls to all do BEFORE we start the water wars! Thanks for sharing! Just stopping by from the GRAND Social Linky Party, hope you get a chance to do the same.
yes, perfect thing for a hot-splashy day! that is what we did, as well. have fun!
The outlines of the objects are so clear. I can see how much kids would love this and how easily it scales, no matter how many kids you have. Thanks! Like having your own camera.
Thank you, Carol for stopping by 🙂
You said it, Like having your own camera. That’s it! The kids very excited to see their images appear.
This is great! I wish I’d had time to peruse the GRAND Social links while I was visiting my grandsons in the desert. They would have loved this. Next time, for sure! Thank you for sharing!
A visit with your grandsons, how nice 🙂 and yes, this would have been the perfect activity. But, as you said, there’s always next time! I’m so glad to have found your website – I’ll be visiting often. Thanks for hosting the party. Have a great week!
Awesome! Simple, frugal and all you need is a little sun and time! Thanks for sharing!!
What a fun and easy project! We’ll have to try this out the next time it is sunny out. 🙂 Visiting from This is How We Roll link up.
We all love the dramatic results – fun for all ages 🙂 Thanks for stopping by – Enjoy your summer!
Definitely looks like a fun summer craft for kids!