I love when I can repeat a fun indoor activity with the boys, especially a craft project since it's been hard to get them interested in arts and crafts lately. When I first shared our cellophane faux stained glass window art project I mentioned that you could easily adapt the idea to a particular holiday or theme. Well, we did just that for fall!
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A lot of window art projects for kids use sticky paper, I love that this one doesn't because sticky vinyl paper is very bad for the environment. Instead, the boys used paint brushes and a sponge roller to apply a solution of dish soap and water and stuck the cellophane shapes right on the glass.
Since floppy cellophane is frustrating for the boys to cut, I cut out colorful fall leaves and shapes ahead of time and the boys had a great time placing them to the window.
Our last window art project had some serious staying power. It was up for months! The colors retained their vibrancy for a long time I only removed it because the colors did fade a bit after a few months (the window gets full afternoon sun), but only one or two bits of cellophane ever fell off.
This time the leaves fell off as soon as they dried! I was mortified that maybe this had happened to others who tried the project so I went back and read the instructions.
MORE: 65 Fun Family Fall Activities
Well. Following the instructions is always a good idea. I had barely used any dish soap and what you need is a solution of â…” dish soap to â…“ water. Yup. You need that strong concentration to work. It won't work with just a squirt of soap in a bucket of water.
Sadly, by this time the boys had moved on to something else, so I reapplied all the leaves. (I found it rather relaxing...) They are still up! I love the way the leaves camouflage our less-than-perfect view.
As I've said before: I fail so you can learn. Always follow the instructions. 😉
I'm already thinking of fun ways we can adapt this project for the dreary days of winter!
Deb says
I found your blog through another blog. You have some wonderful ideas!
Jackie Higgins says
Those are beautiful and a great lesson learned. ha. I'm so guilty of just looking at photos on Pinterest and never clicking over to get the directions. It's always a total fail when I forget to actually READ the instructions. 😉 Oh, and I did not know that about contact paper but it is getting harder to find. Maybe that's a good thing!
Erica MomandKiddo says
I know! I was so embarrassed that I messed my own project up. LOL
writersideup says
Erica, I absolutely LOVE this idea! You're basically making your own "cling-ons" and I would think this would also be fun to put in obscure places inside car windows, or on mirrors or any slick, flat place if you want something decorative occasionally 🙂
P.S. Don't be embarrassed! You just learned that sometimes the science "recipe" for this one couldn't be a "dash" or a "pinch," but an actual measurement 🙂
Erica MomandKiddo says
They would be a nice surprise on the mirror!
Jeanette Nyberg says
Woah. I think we were doing an almost identical project when you were doing this one. Only we used colored paper and that nasty, murderous contact paper. I guess we'll be using dish soap from now on.
Erica MomandKiddo says
Well, it's true that contact paper is convenient....
Natalie F says
I have to find some of this colorful cellophane of these days. So pretty!
katepickle says
just gorgeous! I love the colours!
Ness @ One Perfect Day says
So pretty and lots of fun. I'm featuring this post on my Tuesday Tots round up later today. Thanks for linking up.
iGameMom says
Looks like a fun project. Thanks for sharing at Mom's Library. I am featuring it on iGameMom http://igamemom.com/2013/10/09/7-easy-art-projects-kids-can-do/
Anna@The Measured Mom says
Love your window art!
Erica MomandKiddo says
Thanks, Anna.
Christine says
Totally beautiful in the window!
I mean this genuinely as a question though, is cellophane actually better for the environment than contact paper? Isn't it all just a sheet of plastic that will get thrown away? If there's a difference, educate me please!
Erica says
That is a great question. Cellophane is made from cellulose which is made from plant material. I am 100% not an expert and I bet that a lot of things labelled cellophane are actually sheets of some kind of plastic so I think it depends on the source of the cellophane. And I don't know how toxic the manufacturing process is. I don't have a package of the kind we used anymore, so I don't know if it says on the label. I'm willing to bet it's not as bad as vinyl contact paper, but you are right to question it. I wrote this text a long a number of years ago and I should probably re-think it. -- Also for what it's worth, we were able to remove and reuse our shapes for a couple of years in a row, but still.... perhaps not as great as I used to think it was.