This Little Light of Mine Craft

Catholic ABC's Week: 17
Letter of the week: L
Theme: Light (This Little Light of Mine)
Saint of the Week: St. Lucy (and btw, Lucy means "light")
Craft: This Little Light of Mine

Supplies needed to complete this craft: (All of these supplies are available at the Dollar Tree)

• Disposable Punch Cups
• Plastic Tea Lights (or real tea lights)
• Assorted colors of tissue paper
• Glue
• Paint Brush

I got our plastic punch cups at the Dollar Tree- 12 for $1. The kids in my preschool co-op class are only 2, so I thought this would be best. If you're working with older kids, you could actually do this craft with something glass (also from the Dollar Tree). 

Also because my kids are 2, I went with fake tea lights. These I also got at the Dollar Tree, 2/$1. I later saw them in a different section of the store 3/$1. They come with batteries and everything!

 

Start by cutting the tissue paper into little squares. Just fold it up a bunch of times before you start cutting and you will be able to cut like, a million squares at a time. I usually limit the color pallet for my kids when they do crafts. I gave them only yellow, lime green, and pink tissue paper. You can achieve orange by layering.

Mix your glue to be about 2 parts glue one part water- just eyeball it. I mixed it in the extra punch cups. Then stir until mixed. Have each kid turn their cup upside down on the table, and paint the outside with the glue mixture. Stick the tissue paper on as you go. Encourage overlapping for experimentation with color. If they have the patience, also paint over the outside of the tissue paper with the glue to make it smooth. This technique is called decoupaging.

When the glue is dry, put the candle inside and let your light shine! The effect of the candle behind the tissue paper will be similar to stained glass. Here's how it will look in the dark:

Be sure to sing "This Little Light of Mine" and act out 'hiding it under a bushel' with the kids. They will love it!

Grab Bag Ideas for the Letter L: (be sure to check out the Classroom Script for directions on using the grab bag.) Lizard, Lilac, Lion, Lamb, Lollipop, Lipstick, Locomotive, Lotion, St. Lucy Holy Card.

For More Resources, check out the Catholic Toolbox lesson plans for the Letter L. (Her L lesson is on Loaves and Fish.)

Catholic ABC's runs here at Catholic Icing every Wednesday with the new letter of the week. You can get the details of this program by checking out the Classroom Script.

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