Materials

• Clear contact paper
• Flat lids and screw-on rings from wide-mouth canning jars
• Twine, yarn, raffia, or ribbon
• Scissors
• Selection of fresh or pressed flowers and small leaves

Tip: If wide-mouth jar lids/rings are hard to come by, you can also use cardboard, construction paper, or paper plates to create a frame for your contact paper. You can even stick the decorated contact paper straight onto a window pane to create a colorful cling!

Instructions

• Head outside and collect a few flowers of different colors and some small greenery. Keep in mind that all petals and leaves need to fit within the size of your wide-mouth jar ring, so select accordingly. 
• Have kids trace the jar lid on the backing paper side of their contact paper twice and cut out two circles. If you’re working with children who aren't scissor-savvy yet, cut the contact paper circles in advance, leaving the backing paper on them until ready to use.
• Peel the petals off fresh flowers and trim fresh greenery into smaller pieces if necessary. (Pressed and dried plant materials are ready to use.) Have kids practice arranging the petals and greenery on the clear side of the circle or a flat surface to imagine how they’d like them arranged on their finished suncatcher. You can share examples of floral mandalas with them for inspiration, but let their imagination lead the way! Just make sure that all designs leave some blank space for the sun to shine through. 
• Peel back just a bit of the backing paper on one of the circles and crease it to make an easy-to-grab tab, then place the circle with backing paper face up inside the lid ring. 
• Peel off the backing paper and begin to stick petals and greenery to the paper, keeping in mind that some petals and leaves have more vibrant colors on a particular side, and the side kids prefer should be stuck face down for it to face forward on the suncatcher.
• Once kids are finished placing petals and greenery, they can peel off the backing paper of the other circle and place it on top of the petal-covered side to seal them in. Children still developing fine motor skills may find this challenging and might need adult assistance. For easier placement and sealing, start by pressing the center of the second circle down on the center of the first. Then work your way out to the edges in small circles to press out any air.
• Take your sealed design out of the ring, and take the length of twine, ribbon, raffia, or yarn and hitch it around the lid ring (see photo), then tie the two ends together in a knot to make a loop for hanging the suncatcher.
• Replace your sealed design inside the ring, hang it somewhere sunny, and enjoy!