Candy Corn Sun Catchers

Items Needed for Tissue Version:
Foam Sheet, sticky back kind in any Halloween color
Tissue Paper, Orange, Yellow & White
Page Protector Plastic, or similar
White Glue
Scissors
Hole Punch
Ribbon or String
Scrap Paper, 2 pcs
Paint brush or chopstick

Version with Glitter:
All the above, trade out tissue with 3 colors of glitter


Take a piece of paper and fold in half. Freehand cut on the fold, a shape of half a piece of candy corn. Make any size you like as long as it will fit your foam sheet. Take your second piece of paper and trace the design you just cut out. Now the candy corn cutout will guide you through the first cut on your foam. Cut the foam in a rectangle about 1 inch or more larger than the cutout guide. Fold the foam in half longwise (protective paper liner on the inside) place the folded candy corn guide over the fold and cut out the candy corn window for the foam. Make the foam flat again and you’ll see a candy corn shaped window. Put the foam aside. Back to the traced image on scrap paper, cut a page protector to about the same size as your foam, tape the plastic sheet over the traced candy corn. Tape the points and sides, wet glue will make this curl a bit. Now you’re ready to cut out your tissue paper. I wrinkled the paper and re-flattened it. You don’t have to destroy the sheet of tissue paper. I never unfolded it to begin with. I folded the prefolded sheet longwise till it was about 3 inches wide. Wrinkled the edge, smoothed it out and trimmed off 3 half inch strips, then cut those into nice little squares. Do with all three colors. What I found while making this project is that its more work than it looks like. I’m a crafter and I just rolled with it, the sun catcher is easy, but for little ones you will have to do the prep work in advance. Most 4th graders and up can do all with some light guidance.




Assembly time! Fingers and glue. Squirt glue on the plastic sheet on the bottom third of the candy corn design (the sheet you prepared earlier) and spread with your fingers. Place the orange squares in rows across. Slightly overlap the traced design. The back end of a paint brush helps to hold down the squares and push a little for their placement. Do the same for the yellow and white squares. Let dry, and that takes as long as it takes according to your climate. After the craft dries take the foam window sheet and strip off the backing. Center the window over the dried tissue and stick down the whole thing. You, or an older child will now freehand cut around the foam window, start at the bottom and trim to a quarter inch. (You are creating a border) As you cut to the top of the candy corn extend the trimming to be an inch higher so you can have an area to punch through with a hole puncher. Its all cut out now, press the edges well. If the traced sheet is still sticking to the candy corn, pull off gently.



String your ribbon and hang in a window or let many blow in a tree.


To make the glitter sun catcher, do all the prep steps to create the foam window sheet and the traced sheet covered with a page protector and well taped. Finger paint glue over the entire design. Starting at the bottom of the design shake your darkest glitter over the bottom third, the medium color in the middle third and the lightest color on top which makes that cute candy corn look. Let dry. Place the foam window over the dried glitter and continue the last steps from above.


Making this a second time, I realized this is a quick project once you get the assembly worked out in your head. Later you can make Christmas tree balls, Easter eggs or anything that comes to you.

Victoria Swanson