Preschool Easter Craft

The church I went to when I was little had the most amazing stained glass windows throughout the sanctuary, but also in the gym.  I always loved the look of those windows.
This year for Easter, I thought it would be fun to make "stained glass" crosses to help the kids begin learning about the reason we celebrate Easter. This isn't a new concept, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I made the same thing as a kid!

What you'll need:

• An assortment of tissue paper (but only a little bit of each color- it goes a long way!)
• Glue
• Paint brushes
• Glad Press & Seal (that's what I used) or waxed paper
• Construction paper or cardstock
• Sharpie marker

 Let the kids tear the tissue paper. This started out as somewhat confusing for my kids. I think they didn't believe me that I wanted them to tear it up! But once they got going, they had fun.

I put down some freezer paper wax side up on the table, just to protect the table. I got a huge roll of freezer paper at Costco, so when the kids want to color I cut off a strip- the piece used for this project had previously been drawn on by the kids.
I drew 3 crosses on the freezer paper with a Sharpie marker, and then I put 3 pieces of Glad Press & Seal over those crosses. I had this brilliant idea that turned out to be not-so-brilliant, that if we used the Glad Press & Seal, the crosses would stick to the window and I wouldn't have to tape them. This worked until the window started to get cold in the evening, and then the crosses fell down. But it was nice to use because it stayed in one place on the table.
Next, I gave the kids paint brushes and containers with glue in them, and asked them to paint the crosses. After painting the crosses, I told them to put pieces of the tissue paper on the paint.

Miss Magoo (who is a little over 3) did all of this herself. Little Man (who is nearly 2) needed help, but he had a lot of fun with it.
While the kids were working, I cut crosses out of the cardstock (it's pretty sad, but we don't have construction paper at our house, and I'm tired of all my scrapbooking stuff, so I've been using scrapbooking paper for kids projects- but it's better than it just sitting around!). I didn't use a template, just eyed it, so they all turned out differently.
Once the kids finished gluing and sticking, Miss Magoo helped me paint glue on the backs of each piece of cardstock, and we stuck them over the tissue paper.  Once they dried, I cut around the cardstock, and we were finished.

Miss Magoo helped me hang them in the window, since Little Man was down for his nap. Like I said, the Glad Press & Seal worked for a few hours, but then they fell down. This could be partly due to the fact that the kids put a lot of layers of tissue paper on these! In the finished picture, you can see that the far right one is nearly opaque, it has so much tissue paper on it! Oh well. The kids had a blast and were so proud of these!

What do you do to prepare your kids for Easter? Do you have any special Easter traditions?
Make sure you check out Lucy's Easter project with her kids, Confetti Eggs!


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