Crafting with kids: Tissue paper ‘stained-glass’ Nativity scene

Small squares of tissue paper stuck on to sticky-back plastic is a great way of creating ‘stained-glass’ decorations to go on windows. We still have the Christmas tree and star that the girls made a few years ago which come out each year to decorate our living room windows. Now that Sophie’s older, I thought she might enjoy a more complicated version – making a tissue paper ‘stained-glass’ Nativity scene.

 

A 'stained glass' Nativity scene made with pieces of coloured tissue paper in a window - "Crafting with kids: Tissue paper 'stained-glass' Nativity scene"

 

You will need:

  • Tissue paper in assorted colours, cut into small squares.
  • Containers to keep the tissue paper colours separated
  • A large sheet of black paper or card (or a few smaller sheets stuck together with sticky tape)
  • Clear sticky-back plastic
  • Scissors
  • A pencil

 

1) Draw the outlines for the Nativity scene (a stable outline with Mary and Joseph figures and baby Jesus in the manger) on black card and carefully cut out.

 

Four A4 pieces of black paper taped together with an outline of a stable with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in a manger drawn on it

 

2) Cover the cut-out outline with clear sticky-back plastic and turn over so that the sticky side is uppermost.

 

The outine of the stable with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the manger and containers with different colours of tissue paper at the top of the outline

 

3) Fill in the each of the parts of the scene in coloured tissue paper – blues for Mary; greens or browns for Joseph; orange/gold/brown for the manger; yellow for the star; pink/peach for faces.

 

The outlines of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the manger filled in with coloured tissue paper

 

4) Use different coloured pieces of tissue paper to fill in the space around the figures in the stable until all the sticky back plastic is covered over with squares of tissue paper.

 

The finished Nativity scene filled in with pieces of coloured tissue paper

 

5) Cover with a layer of sticky-back plastic to seal. (We unfortunately ran out of sticky-back plastic during step 2 and had to resort to using strips of sticky tape instead which worked but took a bit more effort!)

 

The finished Nativity scene filled in with pieces of coloured tissue paper with strips of tape stuck down over the tissue paper

 

6) Tape the finished Nativity scene to your window.

 

The finished 'stained glass' tissue paper Nativity scene in a window at night with the light shining behind it

 

Sophie loved making her Nativity scene. Cutting out the outline and sticking it to the sticky-back plastic was quite fiddly so I did that part of it for her, but she managed to do the rest by herself. I love how effective the finished scene looks, especially at night with a light shining behind it.

 

Sophie filling in the outlines of Mary and Joseph with coloured tissue paper

 

Kids and Kreativity linky
Also linking up to #WedsBlogShare at https://notemehappy.co.uk/

6 thoughts on “Crafting with kids: Tissue paper ‘stained-glass’ Nativity scene

  1. This is lovely, and really effective too! I love making suncatchers with the kids with tissue paper and sticky back plastic. Thanks for linking up to #KidsandKreativity, hope to see you back next time.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.