“Noisy Night” and Window Suncatcher

“Noisy Night” by Mac Barnett and Brian Briggs

If you have ever lived in an apartment building then you know the dilemma of noisy neighbors, especially when you want to enjoy a little peace and quiet or sleep.  I have lived in my fair share of apartments and I have experienced this first hand and I’m sure there were times I was a bit too noisy even myself.  It’s all part of the experience, right?!

This is a fun book that plays with that concept.  The first page spread shows the little boy at the bottom floor who is wondering who is making the singing noise above his head that is keeping him awake.  The next page spread shows the concert singer above  him who is wondering who is making noise above his head.  So the pattern continues until it reaches the top floor where an old main shouts for everyone to be quiet and his plea travels back down through the building where everyone responds by being quiet and ending the “noisy night” in restful, quiet sleep.

Click here to purchase “Noisy Night” *affiliate link

“Noisy Night” inspired Apartment Window Suncatchers

Today we are making apartment building sun catchers inspired by the building on the cover of “Noisy Night”.  The building is a black silhouette with windows exuding colorful light that displays yet more silhouettes of the residents inside who are making noise in the story.

With a little paper and colored cellophane, you can make a noisy apartment building of your own to enjoy and bring you a smile or two throughout your day.  I found this suncatcher so much fun to make and especially enjoyed imagining noisy residents inside.

Supplies:

• black poster board
• black construction paper
• scissors
• glue stick
• colored cellophane sheets (like these)
• pencil

Process part 1:

1. I used a standard sized poster board for this project.  To get the apartment size I preferred I folded accordion-style into thirds and cut one of the strips off to create a tall rectangle for my building.
2. Using black construction paper I cut out a door at the proportion I wanted for my building and cut out a window template at the size that I wanted in relation to that.
3. Using the window template I started to trace windows on my building.  I ended up with four rows of three.
4. I then cut out a template for the window molding.  I created five of these to randomly place on the top of different windows on my building.
5. Next, cut the window template in half to trace the dividing line on the windows that creates the appearance of two window panes.

Process part 2:

1. Now you are ready to cut out your windows.  Cut out the top and bottom window pane out of each window.
2. Choose random windows to cover with cellophane.  Cut out the general shape of the window in the cellophane color of your choice and glue it to the back of your building using your gluestick so that it covers the whole opening.
3. Next is the fun part!  Draw some silhouettes on black construction paper, then cut them out and glue them onto the back of your cellophane. Be creative!
4. Add any other accents to your building that you desire (All I added was a black construction paper strip to the top to make a roof) and you are done!  Hang it up on a window and enjoy your creation. (Below is a photo of the entire back of my apartment building to give you a better look at the project. You’ll notice for one of the windows I added a metallic foil wrapping paper to add a fun dimension to my result.  This is unnecessary and completely optional.)

I love how the light shines throughout these suncatchers and I love the idea behind them.  To extend this activity and to add a literacy element a great idea is to have your children write their own story about the goings-on in the building that they created.  What are the residents there doing to create a “noisy night” or what are their stories in general.  This building can be a great springboard for many story ideas and inspiration!

If you give this Beyond the Book activity a try I’d love to hear how it goes! Share it on Instagram using hashtag #beyondthebook (I’m on Instagram as @book.nerd.mommy) or even just comment here with your thoughts. It would make my day! Or to simply save for later pin the image below.