With the cold, blustery weather in full-force this winter, I decided to bring some seasonal coziness into my classroom decor. Last week we made stained glass mittens to adorn the windows of my kindergarten classroom. By now you probably know of my great love affair with stained glass-style window decorations. This one is definitely my new favorite. I know I said that the last time, but now I REALLY mean it.
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For this project, each child made a pair of matching mittens. The partner mittens are displayed next to each other in my window. They look adorable in my bright kindergarten classroom and are the perfect compliment to the Rainbow Chalkboard theme from Melanie at Schoolgirl Style.
Prepping the project was easy! I selected a few different shades of tissue paper in five color schemes (pink, blue, green, orange, purple) and cut the tissue paper into 1″ squares. These were separated into 5 different containers according to their color. Each child also needed two mitten frames. (You can download a free template for the mittens on TpT. Just print, trace onto black construction paper and cut out along with one 9×1/2″ strip of black construction paper for each pair of mittens.) This project also requires two sheets of 12″x18 sheets of clear contact paper per child.
(Side-note: If you don’t already know, I love clear contact paper. I use it for everything. I go through SEVERAL rolls of it each year and if you don’t already have contact paper in your classroom, I highly recommend you go on Amazon right now and purchase a few rolls. You can thank me later.)
It is easiest to set this project up while students are away from their desks. I usually prepare for the activity while my class is at a special or playing with toys on the floor. Begin by peeling the sheets of contact paper and placing one sheet sticky-side-up on each child’s desk. Next, place two frames side by side on top of the sticky paper. Cut or tear the 1/2″ strips of construction paper to create cuffs on the mitten. That’s it!
Students then lay the pieces of tissue paper into the mittens to fill the “stained glass window.” Most students can complete this entire project within 15 minutes.
This particular window decoration was unusual because each child used a specific color of tissue paper. I set up a separate station for each color around the classroom to easily manage the supplies.
Once the mittens were filled with tissue paper, I placed a second sheet of contact paper sticky-side-down on top of the project to seal all of the tissue paper inside. To complete the project, each student trimmed the excess paper from their mittens.
With a little bit of scotch tape, these stained glass mittens were ready to display on my classroom windows!
You can download a FREE Mitten Template from my TpT store.
The weather outside might be frightful, but my classroom is delightful!
I’m a former kindergarten teacher turned work-from-home mom. I still love sharing ideas and resources to make teaching easier, so you can focus on what really matters in the classroom. When I’m not working on the blog, you’ll find me chasing kids around the house with a cold cup of coffee in my hand (some things never change even once you’re out of the classroom!)
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55 Responses
Love this! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome!!! Thank you for sharing! 😉
So adorable, love these projects !
These are gorgeous!!!!
❀Jodi
Fun In First
These look so cute!
Books, Bugs and Boxes
Love these mittens and they are perfect for my plans next week. I too love tissue paper “stained glass” crafts. We made leaves in November and they came out great. These should brighten up our room. Thanks so much for sharing!
~Laura
Luv My Kinders
We will make these mittens this next week. I can’t wait to see them! We are being Accreditation Team inspected the next week and I know the team will love our mittens! You ROCK, Maria!
Ohmygosh! Using contact paper is GENIUS! I can’t believe I’ve never thought of doing it this way. I’ve always had them put the tissue squares on wax paper and brush with starch…so messy! Thanks for sharing this.
Stacey
Monkeying Around in First
These are absolutely adorable. I’m heading to Jo Ann’s right now to buy some BRIGHT tissue paper! Thanks so much for the cute idea!
Kristen
A Day in First Grade
You have some amazing free printables. I really appreciate all your hard work and sharing so many amazing things. You are great. Looking forward to many more TPT purchases and ideas from your blog. Thanks!
Darling! Thanks for sharing!
Katie 🙂
I Want to be a Super Teacher
Thanks for this idea! I’m going to do a spin on it with hearts for Valentine’s day. Your blog has been so helpful- your materials and ideas are so useful! Thanks for all you do!
Hi Maria, love this craft!
My children had so much fun doing it this week.
I’ve posted about it on my blog and would love for you to have a look 🙂
Zoe
Oh the Little Wonders
I teach upper elementary and always looking for neat ideas for my students to remember they are still “kids” . Gathering supplies to do this our first week back to school! Thank you for sharing
Quick Question:
How much tissue paper did you have to purchase? I am trying to figure out how much to purchase for my class – I have 21 students!
Hi Megan! It’s tough to say exactly how much I used because I have sort of a revolving supply of tissue paper in my classroom. Have all the different colors in separate bags so I just grab the ones I need when I have a new project.
To be safe, I would say to plan on 15-20 sheets of tissue paper total for the whole class. As long as all your colors add up to that many sheets, you should be fine 🙂
While trying to download the mitten template I am stuck in a loop. Everytime I click on download it brings me back to the blog page then tells me to click on the store page and then page is missing.
Please help
Oh no! I just tested the download and it was working for me. If you email me at kindercraze@gmail.com and let me know you need the template, I’ll email it to you 🙂
Do you tape down the contact paper while they work? Mine wants to roll up from being rolled up.
No, I just usually lay the contact paper flat and tell my students to try very hard not to touch it. I don’t usually have a lot of issues with it.
Hi. Super excited to try this with my class. How much contact paper did you use per kid. I’m planning to do this for our winter rotations with the 5 kindergarten classes at my school and wondering how many rolls I would need to order. Thanks!
Does each mitten use two of the black outline, or does one side show the nice black border, and the other side shows the tissue paper over the border?