DLTK's Bible Activities for Kids
Stained Glass Cross Craft
Use this as a craft you can hang in your window or make
it as a card for a special friend.
There is an option at the bottom for younger kids, instead of melting
crayons.
Materials:
waxed paper
wax crayons (Crayola don't work as well as the cheap kind
for this project, though they do still work)
manual pencil sharpener (with a fairly large hole)
iron, ironing board and scrap paper (white computer paper or
brown paper bag)
construction paper
scissors
glue stick
Directions:
ADULT: Plug in the iron and cover the ironing board
with scrap paper. Set the iron to medium (no steam).
tear a piece of waxed paper that's square (or a bit longer
than it is wide) and fold it in half. Then unfold.
take the paper off some crayons and 'sharpen' them in the pencil
sharpener. Let the shavings drop onto 1/2 the waxed
paper.
Feel free to use 3 or 4 different colors.
when you have a nice pile of shavings refold the waxed paper.
Fold about 1/2 inch around all the edges so none of the wax leaks
out when you iron.
This is a photo of us doing a heart,
but the process is the same
place the waxed paper containing the shavings down on the ironing
board and cover with more scrap paper.
Iron for about 10 seconds. Peek and iron a bit more if
necessary. All the wax should melt. The longer you iron,
the more your colors will mix.
Let sit about 30 seconds to cool.
Take a piece of construction paper and fold in half.
Crease well
Fold in half again, but this time, don't crease it very much (the
less you crease it the better, but young children may need it
creased quite well)
Cut out a half cross shape. You can do this freehand or draw
it on for small children to cut out.
Unfold the construction paper and you'll find a 'card' type shape
with a heart through the middle of it.
Put your waxed paper ("stained glass") into the middle
and figure out where you're going to position it. With a pen
trace around a line for where you'll want to trim the waxed
paper. The pen won't make a pen mark, but it will leave a
white line on the paper.
Cut out the waxed paper. Try not to fold it -- the wax will
crack if you do.
This is a photo of us doing a heart,
but the process is the same
Open up the construction paper.
Use a glue stick to trace around the heart shape on one side of
the construction paper
Glue the waxed paper down.
Trace around the other heart (on the other side of the
construction paper) and around the edges of the construction paper
and fold down so the waxed paper is sandwiched.
Optional:
Thanks Geri for sending this in! "Have the kids color a picture with crayons. They can color dark or light - it doesn't matter but
the darker sometimes looks better. They really do look like stained glass pictures, especially if the picture had heavy black
lines."
Use crayons, NOT markers or colored pencils.
Have a few bowls with a VERY small amount of cooking oil and a couple of cotton balls in them.
Have the kids flip the pages over and slowly and thoroughly rub the cotton balls on the paper.
(You'll see the paper turn transparent and the colors come through).
Put them aside to dry (usually doesn't take long)!
Cut them out and either hang them as is with a hole punched in them or framed.
Optional:
Thanks Terri for sending this in! "I have done for this to make it more suitable for younger kids. Instead of using wax paper and melting
crayons..."
Use clear Contact Paper and tissue paper pieces.
Put Contact Paper piece sticky side up on the table (may need to tape it down).
Let kids stick tissue paper pieces to the sticky paper
Cover with another piece of Contact Paper sandwiching the tissue in between.
Frame with dark construction paper (with cross shape removed) as directed.
