Summer Solstice Crafts
Each year we really enjoy making decorations for our home in readiness for Summer Solstice. We found some lovely ideas on Pinterest that we tried out – here’s a link to my June Play Ideas – Summer Solstice board if you’re looking for ideas and here’s the blog post from a previous year with our threading sun decoration and sun catcher. This post has had a little update for 2025 and we’ve added a creative t-shirt project idea.
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I love seasonal celebrations. They’re a great opportunity to gather together as a family and make memories. Floss (our daughter) loves candles.
This love comes from the snack time candle lighting at our wonderful Waldorf parent and child group that we used to go to each week when Floss was little. So, I was looking for candle related crafts.
Beeswax Candles
First up was beeswax candle rolling. This was such a beautiful, calm activity and Floss (originally 2.5 years old) was totally absorbed in what she was doing. The feel of the wax and the smell made it a real sensory experience. This is a craft that we still enjoy now Floss is 8 years old.
Beeswax Candle Making
I wasn’t sure if the wax would just break, but at a nice room temperature it was very forgiving! The little kit we got was a starter pack – link here and you can make a good few candles from the pack. It’s a natural colour of beeswax. Once you’ve got the basic idea there are instructions to make some more elaborate designs too. Since the original kit we’ve enjoyed this colourful kit below.
Beeswax Candle Kits
It’s wonderful how children get so much from doing practical activities like this. During our creating session Floss was using lots of mathematical language related to size – big/ small, tall/ short, thin/ thick. Once we’d rolled the candles we decorated some old jam jars to use as candle holders.
Pastel Candle Decorating
Floss loved decorating candles. It was an idea I had that I wanted to try out first as I wasn’t sure how it would work out! Using plain pillar candles – link here and pastels. I drew suns onto the candles. I love the subtle pastel colours and they went on really easily onto the candle.
Here’s a link to a post with more ideas for using pastels with toddlers and children. Playing music alongside crafting is one of our favourite things. We’ve been having a ‘sun’ themed playlist on over the weekend that will continue this week. It’s still been a little rainy here in the UK, so I’m hoping our efforts will encourage the sunshine.
We’ll read the book Summer by Gerda Muller – her books are so beautifully illustrated – and see what inspiration we can find for designs before we start to create. What designs would you do? I’m sure Floss will want to do a bee as she’s bee obsessed right now. We’ve had a little bee theme going on to follow her interest recently too.
Beeswax Modelling
Making decorations with beeswax for Summer Solstice is wonderful. You can add onto candles or just model with it like a clay. We use the brand Stockmar beeswax modelling sheets – link here.
They look and smell lovely and it would be good to try out a new type of modelling medium. Have you used beeswax sheets before?
What crafts do you do in Summer time? Do you have specific things you do for Summer Solstice? We’re always on the look out for a new project.
Design Your Own T-Shirt
One of our recent projects has been using fabric pens on old t-shirts. Floss has called it ‘craftcycling’ – where you do recycled crafts she tells me. The one below she made for World Bee Day. I was really impressed with the fabric pens. We’ve had them for about 3 years now and they all still worked!
More Bee ideas and Resources
Head over to my Bookshop for more bee book ideas and my Amazon favourites for bees here.
Disclaimer
I would recommend adult supervision with activities and take care to ensure the items you are using are suitable for your child in both age and development. I would also discuss candle safety with little ones and keeping candles out of reach when lit or still warm.