Gelatine Flower Suncatcher Nature Craft for kids
Have you tried making a gelatine flower suncatcher? It’s a really pretty flower craft to make out of the petals you find and it also makes a great way to study flowers as it preserves them. A gelatine flower suncatcher is an easy way to make a plastic free suncatcher. We’ve made lots of sun catchers over the years, often using sticky back plastic like this pretty hot air balloon stick craft (which is also a great stick craft for learning how to tie knots!)
For the full tutorial on the hot air balloon flower suncatcher, join our 5 day woodland challenge………………..
How to make a Gelatine Flower Suncatcher
However, a suncatcher that doesn’t use any plastic and is therefore a better craft for the environment is to make a gelatine suncatcher. Using gelatine makes a beautiful suncatcher as it really captures the pretty colours of flowers. There’s also a sensory element to this Nature Craft – a gelatine Flower Suncatcher needs mixing – anything you can mix or stir or anything gloopy I can add to a craft makes it a winner for my three year old! You can get vegan or halal gelatine as an alternative, if you prefer.
Ingredients for a flower suncatcher
If you’d like to make a beautiful flower suncatcher, you will need…….
- Flowers and petals (any type, any colour, can be dried or pressed if you prefer)
- Gelatine (these sachets work well)
- Glass dishes or plastic tupperware tubs
- Ribbon or wool
- Hole Punch
We used two sachets to make 3 medium sized gelatin flower suncatchers. You may need more or less gelatine depending on how large your suncatchers are and how deep you want them to be. We found making them around 20cm was the largest size that gave the best effect – anything above that and it might tear or break. Using some whole flowers does work well and gives a pretty texture but too many large whole flowers means you could have holes in your gelatine.
Method for making a gelatine flower suncatcher
First, collect petals, leaves, buds or anything you’d like to display in your suncatcher – you can use pressed flowers petals or small flowers. Anything too chunky might not set properly but different textures adds interest so try all sorts of shapes of leaves and petals. You could even make face shapes or animals with your nature materials!
- First, you need to mix your gelatine according to the packet instructions. Generally – it is 4 gelatine sheets to 750ml of boiling water. Mix your gelatine well until the powder is all absorbed and take care to ensure there are no lumps.
- Then carefully pour some of the gelatine into a thin layer (around 0.5cm) in your container. Arrange your petals carefully on top of the gelatine in your glass dish or tupperware in pretty patterns or shapes. Then carefully pour the rest of the gelatine over your flowers – everything you want to be preserved needs to covered.
- Leave to set. This is a great craft to develop patience! Unfortunately, the gelatine suncatcher takes a while to set – it can be anything between 24 hours and 4 days depending on how deep your suncatcher is – but it is really worth the wait!
- You can tell when your suncatcher is fully dry – when it has shrunk inside your dish. It will be dry to the touch and stretchy (not gloopy). Carefully peel off the suncatcher and admire!
- Once your gelatine flower suncatcher is finished – hold it up to the light to admire the beautiful colours. You can hang on the window for the sun to shine through by using a hole punch to punch a hole in the top and adding wool or ribbon to hang.
These suncatchers make great gifts for mother’s day or a birthday – you can try making a gelatine flower suncatcher with pressed flowers to make a beautiful insert for a greetings card or you can even make bookmarks out of them.
Start a Nature Journal
You could use your gelatine flower suncatcher for studying flowers and their structures for nature journaling – as the gelatine preserves the flowers really nicely. If you’d like to help your kids start a nature journal – check out our Nature Adventure Journal which has nature prompts for walks and mini adventures in the great outdoors!
More Nature Crafts to try….
For some more nature crafts to try……
Why not make a FLOWER DANDELION WISHES KEYRING
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NB: Some of these products were gifted for review but all opinions are my own (or my kids!).
