DIY Matryoshka Sun Catchers

My girls love to use the hotplate any chance they get. My original thought for these was to use contact paper with tissue paper pieces as the belly center but I think the hot plate turned out super cute.

1) To make your Matryoshka Sun Catcher you will need to start by gathering your supplies.
-hot plate
-wax paper
-peeled crayons
-assorted papers (cardstock and patterned)
-glue, scissors, markers
-doily (optional)

2) Lay a piece of wax paper on your hotplate and allow the the hotplate to warm up. Be sure to supervise children carefully while using the hot plate. Mine is old and doesn't get too hot but newer ones may get hot and cause burned fingers, and we don't want that to happen. You know your hot plate and your child so please use your judgment when supervising the abilities of your child during this activity.

3) When the hot plate is warm it's time to start drawing. The heat melts the crayons as they draw and the effect is a lot of fun (Have you used a hot plate before for an art project?).

Two cacti in a boat

4) When finished set the wax paper aside so the melted crayons can cool and solidify.

5) Print out or draw the pattern below on an 8 1/2 X 11 piece of paper. Cut out the individual pieces.

6) Trace the body pattern onto a solid colour piece of cardstock or construction paper. Trace the head shape onto a patterned piece of paper. I used patterned scrapbook paper because that is what I had on hand but you could use wrapping paper or wall paper as well. Trace the face circle onto a skin tone coloured paper. Below shows the body pattern on a blue piece of cardstock.

7) Cut all the traced pattern shapes out.

8) Glue the solid coloured body piece onto your wax paper painting. To do this put a thin line of glue around the inner circle of the body shape as shown below (on my Matryoshka).

9) Turn the body piece over and place it ontop of your melted crayon painting with the part of your painting you want as your dolls tummy in the centre of the oval cut out. Press down for a moment around the edge to secure in place.

 

 10) Cut away the excess wax paper as close to the glue line as possible so no wax paper is visible outside the body shape.

 11) Draw on your facial features to your face circle piece.

12) Optional: You can tint the edge of a small doily with crayon and glue it to the back of your face piece as a ruffle to frame the face if you want the added detail.

13) Glue your face piece to the head piece. Glue the head piece to the body piece.

14) Hang in a window and you are done.

It proved to be difficult to get a decent picture in the light but you get the idea. In person they look super cute and the pictures do not do them justice if I do say so myself.

Note: For the centre doll in last picture I had to alter the pattern and make larger shapes as the crayon rose I drew was too big for the original pattern pieces. You can see below that the body is made using two pieces of paper taped together. The head piece is also larger but the face circle was exactly the same size.

This would be a sweet activity to go along with The Littlest Matyroshka book

If you missed it check out my post about Matryoshka crafting for lots more ideas. Click HERE.