Toddler Craft: Easy Stained Glass Art

With just two inexpensive supplies and a few minutes of time, you and your toddler can create this easy stained glass art.

My two oldest kids, ages six and four, love crafting at home. They both do a lot of art projects at school, but they’re up for more at home (hence the three batches of salt dough ornaments we made last Christmas). I’m so not a Pinterest mom, though; I tend to find an easy craft that requires a few inexpensive supplies and run with it.

Speaking of Pinterest, I remember making stained glass art with my preschool students way back in 2008, before Pinterest was even a thing. It’s been on my mind for the last few months, but it took me that long to remember to buy contact paper and then to figure out where in Walmart to find it (in the plastic storage containers/shelf organization aisle, if you’re wondering).

We made our rainbows the same day I brought the supplies home, on a fittingly rainy Monday. The kids loved it so much we made donuts the next day- B’s suggestion- and they’re already dreaming up the shapes they want to try next. We still have nearly the whole roll of contact paper and a ton of tissue paper left, so I’ll have no problem pulling off easy stained glass art again and again.

Easy Stained Glass Art

Materials

Contact paper
Tissue paper

Instructions

Cut your desired shape from the contact paper. The possible designs are endless; in addition to a shape that’s special to your child- we’d do a unicorn and a dinosaur- you could do:

• hearts for Valentine’s Day
• rainbows, clovers, or pots of gold for St. Patrick’s Day
• crosses for Easter
• flowers for spring
• suns, beach balls, or sailboats for summer
• American flags for July 4th
• leaves for fall
• jack-o-lanterns for Halloween
• turkeys for Thanksgiving
• trees, gifts, or reindeer for Christmas
• snowmen for winter

We did rainbows because I knew they’d love it. Tracing rainbows was easy because I used my pastry mat to make a half circle and then cut out a smaller half circle inside that. Use your computer to print and trace clip art and shapes if your children want designs more complicated than you’re comfortable free-handing.

Cut your desired colors of tissue paper into small squares; the smaller the contact paper shapes, the smaller your tissue paper squares should be. Because the contact paper comes in a roll, your cut out shapes will curl up. Without peeling off the paper backing, tape the plastic side of the contact paper to the work surface your kids will be using. Peel off the paper to reveal the sticky contact paper.

Let your kids go for it! Make sure they understand the contact paper is sticky and they may not be able to peel up their tissue paper squares once they’re set down.

You have two options once the stained glass art is complete. If you’d like to cover the tissue paper with another piece of contact paper, you can. That seems like a lot of extra work to me, so I just hang the art in the window as-is, using the tape I used to secure it to the counter to attach it to the glass.

For more toddler crafts, check out Homemade Kool-Aid Playdough and Pool Noodle Busy Bag.

Pin this Easy Stained Glass Art for later!

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