Hanukkah Window Star

The star of the David is a mind blowing symbol without any doubt. The design has many meanings. According to the Jewish convention, the symbol stands for joy and beauty. It is an apt window decoration for Hanukkah as well.
Besides its significance as a religious symbol, the six-pointed star is a wonderful and simple geometrical construction as well.
If you are interested to play with lines and various angles then this is a perfect project for you. A bit of knowledge of equilateral triangles and 60 degree angles would help though.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS

You need:

• A pencil.
• A ruler.
• Scissors.
• Two sheets of 6- x -6-inch thin black cardboard.
• Colored tissue paper- two sheets. Choose the color you prefer but bright colors like yellow and orange would be nice to use.
• A sheet of 6- x -6-inch tracing paper.
• Paper adhesive stick.

CAUTIONS AND ADULT HELP

• If you really like to play around with cutouts, then you have a hassle free job on your hand.  If you feel that making a star is a difficult task, then it is better to ask an adult to help you.
• Warning: Use lipstick type paper adhesive, otherwise if you use water paste on colored tissue paper, then the colors will disappear.

Figure 01	Figure 02
Figure 03	Figure 04
Figure 05	Figure 06

 WHAT TO DO

• Take a look at the project picture (fig. 01) and the working drawing (fig. 02) at first. Get an idea about how two pierced blank paper stars and colored tissue are used to make the work piece. Get an idea about how the colored tissue paper “windows” are caught and placed between the stars like a sandwich.
• Trace off the star design. Use a pencil, press and transfer the traced lines through to the two sheets of black card (fig. 03).
• Cutout two stars using the scissors (fig. 04). Take care of the delicate window bar strips. Don’t cut through the bar strips.
• When you already have cutouts of two stars alongside, take the original tracing and use it to draw. Various colored tissue windows have to be cut (fig. 05).
• One of the stars should be placed best-face-down on the working surface. Glue all the tissue paper windows appropriately in place. Place the tissue paper with the other star as sandwich (fig. 06).

TIPS AND OTHER IDEAS

• Ask an adult to cut the star shapes if you have problem in cutting the small “windows”. However, it would be easier to cut the large star shapes.
• The windows would look nice if they are covered with colored and transparent candy papers (in case the colored tissue paper is unavailable).
• Older children can use a pencil, ruler and compass to draw stars with a pencil.