Elmer Inspired Suncatcher Craft

Elmer is a much loved favourite picture book series not only in our home but in many others and in many schools around the world!

British Author David McKee first published the book in 1968 and over 5 million copies in over 40 different languages have been sold! Pretty impressive huh?


Elmer is a cheerful, friendly Elephant with brightly coloured patchwork. His appearance makes him different to the other Elephants and at times this makes him feel sad. He decides to 'blend in' and alter his appearance but when he does so he finds the other Elephants no longer recognize him and don't accept him as part of their tribe.

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This book is great for teaching children about feelings and diversity. Do you have your copy? You can read more about this great story on Amazon Here.


As I mentioned above this story is a firm favourite here so we have been busy crafting some Elmer Inspired Suncatchers!

You will need:

Laminator
Laminator Pouches
Coloured Cellophane
Googly Eyes
Scissors
Paper (we used black)
Glue


First I began by drawing an Elmer outline on a piece of paper. I am no artist at all but it was pretty simple to copy the Elmer Elephant outline from the front cover of the book.

Once I had the outline I cut it out on some black paper. I used black as I do think it works well on suncatchers and would also be a different colour from the coloured cellophane we were using.

I then inserted my scissors in the center of the Elmer shape and began cutting out the middle leaving an outline of around 5mm.

I placed it inside a laminators pouch and the rest was up to Little N!

We have 2 different sizes of cellophane
- Large Squares
- Small Squares


We talked about the difference in the size and Little N decided which she wanted to use on her Elephant. She selected to the smaller squares saying ''I want lots and lots of colours and squares on my Elephant".

I had the book next to her as she was busy decorating her Elmer inspired Elephant. This was great as it encouraged her to talk about the book and the story line. She recalled the story in detail and even asked me to read it to her!

Once her Elephant was complete together we carefully closed the pouch and put it through the laminator.



I cut it out when it had cooled down and Little N stuck it on the window to look at the colours through the light! Little N used some PVA glue to attach a great big googly eye!

We have made lots of lovely Suncatchers this year: