Patriotic Sun Catcher

The Patriotic Sun Catcher is made from faceted beads which you may not have lying around the house. You can buy a big bag of them at your local craft store for under $2, and will be well worth the small expense.

This is a great craft to begin teaching children about following patterns, and great for improving fine motor skills like eye-hand coordination.

Level of Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult

Here's what you'll need...

• Faceted beads: 68 red, 12 blue, and 64 white5 white pipe cleaners
• Scissors or cutters to cut the pipe cleaners
• Wax paper
• Cookie Sheet and oven
• Fishing line or monofilament

Here's how to make it...

1. The Patriotic Sun Catcher is made from 9 rows of beads strung on pipe cleaners. Cut your pipe cleaners in half. You will need to follow this simple pattern:

From top to bottom:
W=White bead, R=Red bead, B=Blue bead

Row 1: 1B, 1W, 1B, 1W, 1B, 1W, 10R
Row 2: 1W, 1B, 1W, 1B, 1W, 1B, 10W
Row 3: 1B, 1W, 1B, 1W, 1B, 1W, 10R
Row 4: 1W, 1B, 1W, 1B, 1W, 1B, 10W
Row 5: 16R
Row 6: 16W
Row 7: 16R
Row 8: 16W
Row 9: 16R

String each bead in this order and clip off any excess pipe cleaner that may be hanging out at the end of your bead rows.

2. Put a piece of wax paper onto a cookie sheet. Arrange each row onto the wax paper, making sure that most of the beads are touching.

3. Put your beads in a cold oven, set the oven temperature for 350F. You will need to 'bake' your sun catcher to make the beads fuse together. Bake for 5-10 minutes, after your oven has reached 350F. Every oven is different, check your sun catcher frequently, you want the beads to be fused together, but not totally melted.

4. When your sun catcher is 'done' let it cool before removing from the wax paper. You can hang your sun catcher buy tying on a piece of fishing line to either end.

You will have some smoke coming from your oven, so if you don't want your smoke detectors alarming, open a window or door!

Click here to find more American Crafts for Kids like the Patriotic Sun Catcher