Summer Learnin -- Make Your Own Sun-Catchers

Summer days are usually filled with sunshine, so what do you do with the kids on a summer day that is filled with grey skies and rain drops?  Try chasing those storms away by making a sun-catcher! 

This awesome idea was brought to me by Emily Davis -- nanny, craft lover and creative genius. Here is what Emily has to say:

I have found that its hit and miss with Pinterest projects, sometimes they work, sometimes they fail!  As a nanny for two little girls and one big brother, I am always looking for craft ideas.  

On this particular day, we had a huge container of plastic beads that needed to be used, so I searched for a craft project that involved plastic beads. I stumbled upon the idea of turning plastic beads into sun-catchers. 

For this project, you will need three different sizes of pie pans to put the beads in, an assortment of beads, a cookie cutter, and wire to hang your finished piece. 

Step 1 -- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Step 2 -- The directions I found said to drill a hole in the sun-catcher after the beads cooled, but everyone that knows me thinks I'm a hazard with power tools, so I had to think of another way to put a hole in them -- we used small metal cookie cutters instead. 

Step 3 -- Place the cookie cutter in the pie pan where you will want to hang the sun-catcher from. Then put a single layer of beads all around the cookie cutter. 

Step 4 -- Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. If you want a little texture to your sun-catcher, leave it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Step 5 -- When they are done baking, place pans on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes. You will hear a little crackle or popping sound.

Step 6 -- When they have cooled, turn the pan over and smack the bottom, the sun-catcher will pop out like an ice cube.

Step 7 -- Hang with fishing wire.

Warning: The plastic may be be a bit stinky as it melts, but it was well worth it, and the kids had a blast watching the beads melt!