If you have children, you’re surely trying to keep them occupied with fulfilling, creative activities during the winter. If you live in a cold area, surely there is snow covering your yard. To enjoy the scenic winter wonderland outside of your home while giving your children a fun project to work on, consider these window crafts.
1. Use Washable Window Paint for Decorative Murals
Two-thirds of parents worry that their child spends too much time on electronic devices, and perhaps you are part of this group. Not to worry — there are plenty of crafts that will exercise your children’s creativity while getting them away from the TV or tablet. Have you ever heard of washable window paint? This convenient craft supply can be found at your local craft store or online.
This kind of paint will allow your children to create a mural on a larger window in your home. The sliding glass door in your kitchen or larger windows in a dining or living room are perfect spots. Seeing that it’s winter, perhaps your children will paint a holiday or winter-themed mural. Your kids could paint snowflakes, a snowman, or penguins. Let them be creative! Once the winter season is over, you can simply wash off the paint — and your windows will be squeaky clean, too.
2. Create Suncatchers to Hang On Your Windows
When it comes to a home’s wall space, about 15% is taken up by windows. With this in mind, creating festive pieces of art to hang on your windows may bring some pops of color to your home that will be enjoyed throughout the winter season. A craft your kids will love is creating their very own suncatchers. Collect some small, unused picture frames, whether they’re in your home or found cheaply at a store, and colored tissue paper. Frames with two sets of glass will work the best. You’ll also need a hot glue gun and some glitter, too.
Cut the colored tissue paper into small squares. Have your kids arrange them onto one of the glass pieces of the picture frames. They can arrange all different colors for a rainbow effect, or they can choose another pattern or picture. Using the tissue paper to outline a snowman would be a creative idea! After you’ve glued the tissue paper down, perhaps with two layers, and sprinkled some glitter on top, use the other piece of glass to press it down. Put the glass back into the picture frame and secure it. Then, hot glue a stable piece of string or wire onto the back of the completed picture frames. Once you’ve secured hooks with rubber backs onto your window panes, you can hang your beautiful suncatcher picture frames onto the hooks. Wa-la! These suncatchers will sparkle in the sunlight.
3. Make a Picture and Holiday Card Display
Another great craft for decorating your windows during the winter season is by creating a display to hang holiday cards and pictures. This project is fairly simple. Have your children help you find twine to create your display, perhaps at a craft store or in your basement or garage. Measure one long piece of twine so it’s the same length as the window or windows you plan for it to hang across. Then, tie or hot glue 10 to 15 pieces of twine hanging off of it, perhaps in different lengths so the pictures will be staggered. You could hot glue decorative buttons onto the spots where the twine intersects to make it more festive, too.
In the average home, 38% of heat loss is through windows and doors. If your home has drafty single-pane windows, heat loss through windows may increase to 50%. Knowing this, be sure your windows are closed and secure. You don’t want heat in your home to be lost, and you certainly don’t want your entire display or the pictures hanging from it to be flung off or ruined by a gust of wind or water.
Once the display is secure, tie each side to the ends of your chosen window or windows. Curtain rods may be good anchors, or perhaps hammer thin nails on each side of the chosen window and secure the twine on those. Then, have your children paint clothespins, perhaps in holiday colors, to hang some family pictures. Be sure they’re staggered across the display. As your family accumulates holiday cards and more pictures of your family throughout the winter, hang more. By the end of December or January, this display will surely be filled. Since it’s in front of the window, the pictures will glisten, too!
Who knew windows could be dressed up so much? With the natural sunlight that windows offer, many crafts and artistic pieces look even better displayed in front of a window. Your kids will enjoy being involved in decorating your home and embarking on creative activities that they will get to see every day. A holiday or winter mural, suncatchers, and a photo display will look bright and bold in your home this winter season. Get started on these crafty activities with your family, and enjoy the winter season while it’s here.
