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Rainbow Wind Chimes Made with Sticks – a Fun Nature Craft for Kids

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Make these homemade rainbow coloured wind chimes with sticks found in nature. They’ll add a splash of colour to any backyard or patio!  Hang them in your own yard, or give them as a gift to someone special!

We love to make wind chimes here in my daycare. You can make them out of almost anything and they always look fantastic when you’re done. You can see all of our homemade windchimes here.

I was inspired to make these rainbow wind chimes the other day when I spotted this colourful key wind chime over on Inner Child Giving. I loved how cheery theirs looked, and how simple the project was.

I knew the hooligans would love to make something similar to hang from the tree beside our playhouse. Because we like to craft with items found in nature, we used sticks the kids collected on a walk to make our wind chimes.

wind chimes made with sticks painted in rainbow colours

To make your rainbow wind chimes, you’ll need:

For your conviencience, this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

supplies for homemade rainbow wind chimes

Instructions:

We started by snapping our sticks into lengths of about 8-10 inches.

Next, we peeled the bark off the sticks.

This is actually quite fun, and older kids might really get into this part.  The hooligans are a bit young, and found it tedious after a few minutes, so I ended up doing this step mostly by myself.

Then, everyone got a sanding block or a piece of sandpaper, and gave their sticks a quick once-over to remove any remaining bits of bark.

The hooligans love sanding wood.  For a fun activity, I sometimes set out a few pieces of scrap wood and some sanding blocks for the hooligans to have a go at. They think it’s great. They’re always impressed by how satiny the wood feels after giving it a good scrubbing.

preschooler using sanding blocks and sandpaper

Then, we painted each stick with two coats of acrylic craft paint.

rainbow painted sticks laid out in grass

The sticks dried quickly in the sun, and then I brushed on a coat of craft varnish.

The varnish is important for a couple of reasons. Because these sticks will be hanging in the yard, the varnish will offer some protection from the elements. Also, the varnish really makes the paint colours pop.

screwing small hook into painted yellow stick

When the varnish was dry, we screwed tiny screw-eyes into one end of each stick.

I started each one, and the hooligans finished twisting them in.

Depending on how hard your wood is, your child may require very little or a lot of assistance with this part.

painted sticks lined up in rainbow order

I then tied a long length of acrylic yarn to each hook, and took the sticks back to the oak tree beside our playhouse, and tied them to the lowest branch.

Ready? Ooooo! Can you hear me doing my happy dance?

Check it OUT!

homemade rainbow wind chimes hanging from tree in backyard

Aren’t they awesome?

And when the hooligans jump up and swat at them,

child batting at wind chimes beside playhouse

or when the wind blows…

wind chime sticks blowing in breeze

…they’re GORGEOUS!

easy-rainbow-stick-wind-chimes-happy-hooligans

See?

Proof once again that you don’t have to spend a lot of money or get too fancy when crafting with your kids.

homemade wind chimes with painted sticks

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Comments

  13. waggore

    So pretty. I love the rainbow color- gives some bright to outside even if it’s cloudy! My girls love hunting for things in nature and they love rainbows- ROY G BIV is talked about almost daily! Love the post.

    http://thisfineday.com/

    Reply

  14. melissa

    I love these! We just collected our sticks. We are going to add these to our end of the year teacher gift for my daughters kindergarten classroom. I thought I would have all the kids sign the sticks and present it to their teacher as a gift to her future students. Thanks for all the wonderful inspiration!!

    Reply

  18. Rachel Jones

    Do they make a nice sound or just klunky sticks banging together? I love the sound of the bamboo chimes, I am sure they are not like that but just wondering!

    Reply

    • happyhooligans

      I think they sound nice. Kind of like bamboo, but they’re not hollow, so not quite the same. More than anything they’re a really vibrant visual accent in our playspace, and fun for the kids to knock together with a stick.

      Reply

    • happyhooligans

      Thank you so much, Julie! I’m glad you enjoyed our chimes. This craft was one of my favourites from this past year.

      Reply

  24. Nana

    We’re doing this tomorrow…made TP roll chicks today and TP roll bunnies last week. My grandson (and I) love doing crafts!! Yours are the best!!

    Reply

  25. Vivian McDermott

    So delightful to hang this colourful wind home on a tree outdoors. Will be going on a Nature Hunt with the cherubs soon.

    Reply

  28. marilyn

    I am a little slow in starting this project, but now that my granddaughter is out of school for the summer, I have to find something interesting for her to be involve with. She is limited in what she can do and I thought this would be a fun thing (even if I do most of it. She will enjoy the final outcome of this project for sure. Thank you for all of your great ideas.

    Reply

    • happyhooligans

      You’re so welcome, Marilyn! You’ll both enjoy this one. I did have to help with the hooks, and strings, but the kids had a great time peeling the bark off the sticks, sanding them and painting them. Some of the older ones were able to twist the hooks in (great fine-motor building there) once I’d started them for them.

      Reply

  29. michelle

    Oh my gosh!! 2 of my Kindergarten Kiddos just collected sticks on the playground yesterday! They left them in a “safe hiding spot”, and after seeing this, I am going to have them bring them into the classroom this morning, and we are going to make these!! Thanks for sharing! =-)

    Reply

  30. Pauline

    Thanks for sharing – A nice & easy fun activity, with so much learning opportunities. Looking forward to giving it a try.

    Reply

  31. Janessa

    Just made these with my three year old. We had lots of fun with the process and love the finished product! Thanks for the idea!

    Reply

    • happyhooligans

      You’re welcome, Janessa! I’m so glad you guys had fun making your chimes! This was one of my all-time favourite projects!

      Reply

  32. Natalie Cavenas

    I can’t wait to do this idea with our campers! It gets them out to find sticks around the barn and the horse areas. Then also the arts aspect of sanding and painting them. They will look amazing outside our dorm rooms.

    Reply

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