Homemade Wind Chimes Made From Painted Sticks

Last updated on June 10, 2020

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:

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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!