One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Sun Catchers

{Blue Fish by Mia, Age 4}

{Red Fish by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• red or blue construction paper
• scissors
• clear contact paper
• red or blue tissue paper
• pencil 
• clear tape
• paper trimmer (optional)
• hole punch (optional)
• yarn, string, ribbon, etc. for hanging (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut red or blue tissue paper into small squares. Older kids can do this themselves. We used approximately 1/2 inch squares, but you could make yours bigger. 
2. Fold a piece of red or blue construction paper in half like a hamburger (or use two pieces of construction paper if you would like to make a larger sun catcher).
3. Draw a fish shape (or trace around a cookie cutter or a picture from the internet) onto one half (or one piece) of the paper, and cut out the fish. Do not draw your design too close to the edges of the paper. Cut paper in half along the fold. You should now have two pieces of paper with identical fish cut-outs.  Tip: If you are using two pieces of paper, you will need to make sure they stay together so that you get identical fish.
4. Cut two pieces of clear contact paper (I used both a paper trimmer and scissors for this.) so that they are 1/4 inch larger than the construction paper all the way around. Tip: Do not remove backing from contact paper until you are ready to use it.
5. Adhere one piece of paper to the clear contact paper so that there is a border of 1/4 inch all around the paper. Tip: Slowly peel the contact paper away from the backing as you smooth the construction paper down onto the contact paper. This way you don't end up with "bubbles."
6. Have your child stick tissue paper squares onto the contact paper fish shape until it is filled (or nearly filled like Mia's).
7. Layer the second piece of construction paper on top of the first, making sure that the fish shapes line up.
8. Add the second piece of contact paper over the top, smoothing it down as you go. Trim away excess if desired, but don't trim too much or the sun catcher will not stay together. 
9. You can display your sun catcher in a window using clear tape. Another option is to use a hole punch to make two holes near the top, thread some ribbon or yarn through the holes, tie it off, and then hang your sun catcher.