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Some crafts are fun and some are really fun. The summer window clings that we made a few weeks ago were one of those really fun crafts. I still smile every time I see them on the back door. So even though we had just made summer ones, we had to make some more windows clings for the 4th of July. To mix it up a little bit, we used glitter to add color this time instead of paint. Once again I made my own set of 4th of July window clings while my three year old daughter made hers.
How to Make 4th of July Window Clings With Glitter and Glue
Supplies:
- Cling wrap, wax paper, or any sort of clear plastic
- White glue
- Red, silver, and blue glitter
Making the Pattern:
To start, you need to decide what shape window clings you want to make. For the 4th of July, I wanted to make fireworks and stars. If I was doing these on my own I probably would have skipped making a pattern and freehanded them. But, I knew my daughter would do better with something to trace. So, I found pictures from Clip Safari and made a pattern that you can download here.
Then, I printed out the pattern and taped it to our table. I taped a piece of cling wrap over that. Wax paper or another clear plastic should work too if you don’t have any cling wrap. The glue will take a while to dry so make sure you are setting this up somewhere it can stay for about 24 hours.
Gluing the Shapes:
Next, I got my daughter involved. I reminded her how to trace the pictures with her glue bottle. Then, I let her squeeze her glue on all the pictures. Meanwhile, I made my own fireworks and stars.
Coloring the Shapes with Glitter:
Once we both finished gluing, it was time to color our homemade window clings. Instead of using paint, we used glitter. Since we were making them for the 4th of July, we only used red, silver, and blue glitter.
We both sprinkled glitter on all our shapes until we covered up all the glue. My daughter used all three colors on every shape. I would recommend using bigger pieces of glitter in a shaker to help minimize the amount of glitter your child uses. Here are some tips from Happy Deal Happy Day on containing the mess from glitter.
It took about 24 hours for our window clings to dry even after we put a fan on them for the first few hours. Then, my daughter helped me peel them up and put them on our back door. They were harder to peel off the cling wrap then the summer clings were. I found that running the back of my thumbnail towards the extending piece of dried glue helped them come up. I tried to brush off as much of the extra glitter as I could between peeling them up and putting them on the back door. But, a bunch of glitter still ended up on the floor in front of the back door.
Outcome of Our 4th of July Window Clings
I like how these window clings turned out, but not quite as much as I liked the summer ones. I liked the look of the paint more and the glitter ones don’t stick quite as well to the door. Only my daughter’s clings are falling off, so I think she put so much glitter on hers that some sunk too far down and broke the seal. After I placed the fallen off clings under heavy books to flatten them and washed the backs off with a wet paper towel they stuck for a bit longer. I will probably just end up taping hers to the door. Overall, I liked these but didn’t love them like I did the first set
My daughter on the other hand, is now a certified glitter addict. I’m not sure how I have kept her from glitter this long. And I’m really not sure why I thought it would be a good time to introduce it now. She was so excited about the glitter all over her and the floor that she called my husband on his way home to tell him all about the glitter. She made him look at the window clings as soon as he walked in the door. So glitter 4th of July window clings get a 10/10 preschooler rating.
Make sure you check these other 4th of July crafts and let me know in the comments if you have a least favorite craft supply (like glitter).
