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Window Art – The Rainbow Fish and Elmer The Elephant

January 26, 2016 by Emma Gadsby 15 Comments

When creating an art masterpiece the window does not seem an obvious location. However, we love window art as it gives us a new surface for creating large scale art on. The natural light through the window also produces a wonderful stained glass window effect on the art work. When we found out that Playdough And Popsicles were hosting a Kids Craft A-Z series we opted for letter W. Take a look at how we created Window Art inspired by The Rainbow Fish and Elmer The Elephant.

The Rainbow Fish and Elmer The Elephant Window Art

(This post contains affiliate links)

Over Christmas I managed to eat my body weight in Nestle Quality Street. As a result we have a large collection of coloured cellophane sweet wrappers. Instead of throwing them away we put them to good use to create our Rainbow Fish and Elmer The Elephant masterpieces on contact paper.

Regular readers will know I have a love/hate relationship with contact paper. I love the different ways it can be used but I hate peeling the paper away and attaching it to an object. Luckily as our book inspired characters were small the contact paper didn’t stick to itself and was easy to attach to the window.

The Rainbow Fish Window Art

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister is about a vain fish with no friends who finds that sharing his silver scales leads to happiness. It was a firm favourite story with my class and we once created a giant window artwork version.

Rainbow fish template

1. Using a black felt tip pen draw the outline of The Rainbow Fish onto the non-sticky side of contact paper. I cheated and printed a template of The Rainbow Fish from Twinkl and placed it underneath the contact paper so I could go over the lines.

Rainbow fish window

2. Peel the back off of the contact paper and position the fish onto the window and secure with cellotape. Ensure that the sticky side is facing you.

Ways to recycle sweet wrappers

3. Fold the coloured cellophane wrappers in half and then half again and out out fish scale shape. This process will give you four fish scales. Place the scales onto the sticky contact paper

4. On black card draw around the Rainbow Fish template and cut it out. Insert your scissors into the center of the Rainbow Fish and cut out the middle, leaving a thick border.

Rainbow Fish window art

5. Peel off the sellotape from the contact paper and place the fish onto the floor with the sticky side facing you. Position the black card fish on the contact paper and push down. Remember to add the fish eye.

6. Place the fish back on to the window but with the sticky side touching the glass.

7. Use nail varnish remover on cotton wool to remove any black felt tip pen that is still visible.

Rainbow Fish toddler craft

Elmer The Elephant Window Art

Elmer The Elephant by David McKee is a wonderful story about the patchwork elephant which demonstrates to children that it is ok to be different. To create your own multicoloured elephant simply repeat the same steps as above but use an Elmer The Elephant template.

Toddler Elmer artwork

During step 3 cut out squares from the coloured cellophane instead of fish scales and with step 4 ensure you create an ear and an eye for Elmer.

Elmer The Elephant toddler craft

I did not expect Adam to love this activity just as much as he did. He enjoyed every part of the process – from differentiating between an Elmer square or a Rainbow Fish scale to reaching up high to stick the cellophane onto the contact paper. He talked non-stop throughout the activity telling me about the different colours, shapes and the events in each story.

Toddler window art

Little did Adam know that the activity was not only creating wonderful window art pieces but also developing his gross and fine motor skills. The notion of reaching up and down to place the cellophane onto the contact paper was strengthening his arms and shoulders.

Elmer the Elephant window art

Our story inspired window art is proudly displayed on our patio door. Adam loves seeing his artwork prominently displayed and when the sun shines through they brighten up our living room.

Resources:

* The Rainbow Fish book and Elmer The Elephant

* Nestle Quality Street wrappers or coloured sellophane

* Contact paper

* Black felt tip pen, scissors and sellotape

* Black card

* Nail varnish remover

Disclaimer: We received a Premium Subscription from Twinkl to review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Window Art Rainbow Fish and Elmer

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Remember to take a look at the other Kids Crafts from A-Z as part of the series hosted by Play Dough And Popsicles.

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Filed Under: Creative Activities, Play Activities, Popular Posts, Some time required, Supervision needed Tagged With: Animal themed play, Arts and Craft Activities, Book themed play, Colours, Contact Paper, Cupboard Resources, Fine Motor Activities, Gross Motor Skills, Recycled materials, Window activity

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Coombe Mill - Fiona says

    January 26, 2016 at 7:46 am

    What a lovely craft, Elmer was always a favourite here when the kids were young. #LetKidsbeKids

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 26, 2016 at 8:52 pm

      Elmer is certainly a favourite story for us too.

      Reply
  2. Jenny Eaves says

    January 26, 2016 at 8:49 am

    They look lovely, must be nice with the light shining through. I keep trying sticky back plastic art with my toddler, but he likes to stick some on and then just peel off again! Oh well, maybe when he’s closer to 3! #toddlerapprovedtuesday 🙂 x

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 26, 2016 at 8:56 pm

      Adam went through that phase too with our first few window creations.

      Reply
  3. Karen Bell says

    January 26, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    That’s so pretty and a lovely art activity. Great that it uses a character he knows too. We must try something like this.
    Thanks for linking #LetKidsbeKids

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 26, 2016 at 8:57 pm

      Thank you. I loved Adams reaction as he saw the sun shining through.

      Reply
  4. Baby Isabella says

    January 26, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    What a great idea! We should have kept our Sweet wrappers! It makes a lovely stained glass effect! Love the scales of the fish! #LetKidsBeKids

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 26, 2016 at 9:03 pm

      Sounds like an excuse to hit the sweet tin again 🙂

      Reply
  5. Becky says

    January 28, 2016 at 8:36 pm

    It’s possible to use tissue paper too 🙂

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      February 15, 2016 at 9:37 pm

      Certainly is. I just wanted tor recycle our sweet wrappers!

      Reply
  6. Karen @ Raising Little Superheroes says

    January 29, 2016 at 11:12 am

    We LOVE both of those books! My boys will have so much fun making these suncatchers.

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      February 15, 2016 at 9:37 pm

      Great combination of stories!

      Reply
  7. Su {Ethan & Evelyn} says

    February 1, 2016 at 4:18 pm

    This looks very simple and effective. My boy would love the idea of this as he loves Elmer. We haven’t come across the rainbow fish yet – looks like an interesting book. We will need to check this out. Thank you for sharing. #letkidsbekids

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      February 15, 2016 at 9:36 pm

      You MUST check out The Rainbow Fish. It used to be my class favourite story!

      Reply
  8. Rachel George says

    July 25, 2016 at 11:25 am

    We love contact paper! So many great pictures are possible. #BeInspired

    Reply

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Emma and Adam

During a difficult pregnancy suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Emma vowed to make every day an adventure once she had recovered. Adventures of Adam is the outcome of completing a 100 day play challenge with Adam as part of that promise. Emma has a section dedicated to HG friendly play activities so that Mums can still be part of their children’s play whilst they are ill.

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