This easy glass candy suncatcher DIY project is a great craft project for toddlers and younger kids because it is fairly mess free. Also it involves lots of steps with different types of activities to follow through with. It is great for fine motor skill development. The final result – the candy glass suncatcher – will be a real work of art for everybody to admire. It would make a great present too.
Of course, the suncatcher is also edible but we didn’t eat ours because we don’t eat sweets (at least almost never).
1. Unwrapping The Candy
The first step is to unwrap all the beautiful coloured candy. Kyra, who was only 14 months when we did this activity, really enjoyed this part. I was worried she might try to keep popping the tempting candy pieces into her mouth, but she actually wasn’t interested in the taste. She was really focused on the unwrapping..
Ayla (3 years) helped Kyra with sorting the candy by colour into different pots.
2. Smashing the Candy with a Hammer
This is the only messy part of the project and therefore we moved our work table outside.
Ayla struggled a little with handling the hammer and she needed my assistance.
A bit later we worked out a much better and less messy way of smashing the candy.
We put them in zip lock bags before hitting them with the hammer. I think a meat tenderizer would also do a much better job at crushing the candy but we didn’t have one at hand.
Try not to pulverize the candy too much as it looks better in the final product when you have some bigger chunks of each colour.
3. Arranging the Broken Candy Bits on a Baking Tray
We wanted our suncatchers to have an organic shape, so we didn’t place our candy inside of any moulds or containers.
You could however use any kind of heat proof cookie cutter shapes. Another way to make shapes would be to arrange some sticks around the outside of the bits to make your own custom mould.
4. Bake at 175 Degrees Until Just Melted
Make sure to keep a close eye on the candy when it melts because it can burn really easily. It also might be nicer not to let all the pieces melt completely to achieve a nice 3D effect.
The kids loved to watch through the oven glass as the sugar slowly melted and created a shape started to evolve.
Let the shapes cool down completely before carefully lifting them off the baking sheet.
5. Tie Some String to the Suncatcher and Display
To display your final works of art, make some small holes in the top section and thread some fishing line or thin thread through. Next time I might try to add the fishing line before the baking process. I think this would probably make it melt right into the shape for a more secure hold.
We were very pleased with the final outcome of this project and loved looking through the colourful glass lit up by sunshine.
These glass candy suncatchers were in my opinion some of the best suncatchers we’ve ever made..
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