Patriotic Suncatcher Stars

Hello everyone! I hope you’re having a lovely day today. If you’re looking for a fun craft to do with your kids this week, look no further than these Patriotic Suncatcher Stars!

These are a great way to use up broken crayons and decorate your windows! You can use this same technique with different colors and shapes too. Here’s what you’ll need.

You can also make suncatchers with coffee filters with one of my favorite easy kids craft ideas!

Patriotic Suncatcher Stars

Suncatcher Craft Supplies:

• Old or broken crayons. 
• Wax paper
• Old towel
• Iron
• Pencil 
• Star cookie cutter 
• Crayon or large pencil sharpener
• Paper towel
• Scissors
• Clear tape

I ended up using newer crayons as my kids don’t color with them much anymore, but this is a great project for using up old or broken crayons. Start by laying down a paper towel and sharpening your crayons until you really don’t have much left to hold onto. Make sure to do this in an area where you don’t mind a mess, because crayon shavings are staticky and like to go everywhere!

Now you’re going to lay our your old towel to iron on. I’m just using an old pool towel we still have around. Tear off a large piece of wax paper, fold it in half, and then open it back up. Sprinkle your crayon shavings onto one half of the wax paper. I would recommend spreading them out even more than I did for a better effect.

Fold the paper back over the shavings, and fold the towel over the top. With your iron on a medium setting, start ironing the towel over the shavings.

Lift up the towel and check frequently! If you don’t iron enough, the wax won’t melt. If you iron too much, the crayon will blend together and may even burn into an icky brown color. I ended up having issues with the paper separating because my crayon layer was too thick, so really leave some space between those shavings. A light sprinkle is plenty!

When the patriotic suncatcher stars all melted, let the wax paper and crayon cool completely, around 20 minutes. Now take your star cookie cutter and trace around it on the wax paper several times. Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut out your stars! See where the wax paper separated from the crayon layer? That’s because I bent the paper too much while cutting and my crayon layer was too thick.

The good news is, they still look great on the windows! Roll up some clear tape, stick it on the back of each star, and attach them to your windows!

And you’re all done! I love how fun and bright these look, and they’re a great way to help keep your cat (or 4 year old!) from running into your sliding glass doors too!