PVA Suncatcher Craft Process Art

So, I have decided that my Preschooler is a Paint-a-holic! She honestly can not get enough!!
Did you see the recent Famous Artist inspired painting techniques we tried? They have been getting lots of views on our blog! I will add them to the end of the post so you can check them out!!

We have been trying lots of new ways to paint lately and this is another new method - Painting on PVA glue! It was such a great therapeutic technique and the effects reminded me of painting with shaving cream!

You will need:

Jar/Plastic Lids
Paint (optional)
Food Colouring (works best)
Cocktail Sticks


As we were looking more at the process side of art rather than the outcome we did use paints aswel as food colouring. If you are wanting to keep these as finished products of artwork at the end you will get better results using food colouring!

I would recommend having some dopplers so children can drop the food colouring on the glue independently. They will enjoy being in charge of their artwork, rather than needing assistance.


Start by covering the lids in PVA. Make sure they completely cover the base and be generous. Little N really enjoyed this part and watching the glue oozing out. She actually said "Look at the patterns I'm making".


We started off by using 'kids paint' in the glue. The colours were just beautiful!

Once you have dropped some colours around in the glue, use your cocktail sticks to glide through the glue and paint creating beautiful coloured swirls!

We did another 3 using paint before we had a go using food colouring too:


As they started to dry out the food colouring swirls stayed put yet the paint seemed to dissolve into the colour. The colours were still beautiful but the swirls were no longer.

For older children it would be good to do both and compare the two different outcomes. Get them to predict before hand which one they believe will work better and then conclude once they have completely dried out.

When you have finished swirling around, leave them to dry.
We left ours in our porch as it's like a greenhouse in there once the sun gets on it.

We left them 2-3 days. I did pass them wondering how I was going to get them out of the lids but once they are fully dried out you will find they have already begin to peel away from the lids. So until you see this happening - leave them put.

We popped the suncatchers onto our patio doors and I am just loving the colours against the blue skies and fluffy white clouds!

It was a fun art process that ended up producing a lovely colouful suncatcher!