Suggested Family Activity • Sun ☀ Prints

Published by Library Staff on

☀ We have been in the middle of a heat wave, with temperatures outside soaring into the 90s.  Take advantage of the sun shining down to create some Sun Prints today.  Sun prints are what happens when you leave an object on a colored piece of paper so that the sun fades the paper but there is a darker space left where the object shields the paper from the sun’s rays.  To make this fun art activity at home, construction paper works best as it fades easily.  Have your children collect several different kinds of objects to experiment with different end results.

Many people use natural objects, such as leaves 🍃 or flowers 🌼 to create sun prints.  But children can try some of their toys 🪀 or odd shaped household items 🛠 to design a great pattern.  Leave your objects on the paper in full sun and check on them often to see how they are progressing.

You can even turn this into a STEM activity by having children make a prediction for how long they think it will take before the paper fades, as well as doing tests to see if different colors fade faster than others.  Children can also test if different types, sizes, or shapes of objects work better than others.