Summer Solstice Craft for Kids

 This is a craft my son and I made for the Summer Solstice.  It is a hanging sun decoration made out of a paper plate.

I used this opportunity to explain the Summer Solstice to him, and some Pagan traditions surrounding this event. 

Materials Needed:

1 cheap, flimsy paper plate with the ridges at the end

Crayons, markers or paint (depending on the age of your child.  I had a 1 1/2 year old doing this craft with us, so we used crayons.)

A hole puncher

Scissors

Coloring book or picture of your child

String

Glue stick

Instructions:

To begin, have your child color the paper plate with the colors of the sun.  We colored the center yellow and the ridges orange.  If you are using paint, let the plate dry before moving on. 

Then we went through the coloring book and looked for summer scenes.  Once we found one we liked, we cut it out and colored it. 

When we were finished coloring, we glued the picture scene to the center of our paper plate sun.  You can also glue a picture of your child in the center instead. 

 My son cut ridges all along the edges of the plate because he is old enough to use scissors.  If your child is very young, like the baby I am watching, cut the ridges yourself.  This creates the appearance of sun rays. Do not make them too thin. Otherwise, when you hang your sun up, it will rip. 

Punch a hole at the top of one of the rays and tie a string to it. 

My son wrote Happy Summer in the center to practice writing.  Again, if your child is too young, you can write this for them. 

You may want to color both sides if you are hanging your sun somewhere where it will spin around (and maybe a second picture for the back.) 

While making our sun, we discussed the Summer Solstice together.  My son, and even the baby I watch, enjoyed this project.  

Have fun.