Does any one have a craft ideal for scrap wood for Bible School? We are building a new church and have lots of wood. Thanks
Cynthia from Lewisport, KY
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Make bible scripture wood plaques using a wood burning tool. Stain wood if desired, attach a hanger on the back to hang on wall or door.
Numeric or alphabetic blocks. Use stencils and fill in with markers. Great from the smaller kids, but sand the corners good.
Docoupage pictures, poems, or writings by the kids. One day they stain, the next they select/do their "art work", the next they glue and clear coat, the last they are ready to go home.
One idea I came up with off the top of my head is a Town... Each child could choose whether he or she wants to make a Car or Truck or a House, Church or School out of a block or scrap of wood... Then the child can prime the wood with white Gesso, then use markers or paints to decorate it with... If you use water-based markers (& not permanent which could stain their clothes) then you'd need to spray them with a finishing coat of clear spray paint or varathine. If you want to get REALLY fancy, you can buy round wooden discs (at the craft or dollar store) & nail them into the sides of their cars & trucks with braids, this way they'd have wheels, but the child can always paint their own pretend tires & wheels on the block of wood themselves!
---> Do the kids a favor & paint a sample of a house & a car FIRST so you can show them a sample & this way they can visualize just what you want them to do.
I think it would be a good idea if the kids could make 2 different items, one to take home with them & one to leave at the church for other kids to play with & build a "Town"... You could then take an old rug or the back of vinyl flooring or snap-together rug tiles & paint black roads on it. If you don't want to hassle with this, simply buy an inexpensive piece of green "Astroturf" or short outdoor "turf" or a section of green indoor/outdoor rug. This in sold in all Home Depots & hardware stores. For the blacktop roads, use a huge black permanent marker or black Acrylic paint from the craft store, or you could mask off certain parts & use spray paint in your back yard. You'll have to decide on the correct size of roads for the buildings & trucks to go on, so they sort of match up.
* To keep the kids clean while painting, buy a box of kitchen bags from the dollar store & cut a hole in the center of the bottom seam with a 3 or 4 inch slit down the back & 2 arm holes, one on each side, then slip this bag quickly over their heads. If you don't feel right slipping a bag quickly over a child's head, then simply cut the slit ALL the way down to the bottom of the bag & use a bag of clothes pins from the dollar store to fasten the apron together behind their neck. If a child is to big for this apron, you can simply cut slits in the sides or buy a second box of larger bags for the larger children.
*** Of course, there's ALWAYS the old standby of a decorated cross. Us moms ALWAYS love to hang these up in our house! & we'll save them FOREVER!
In reminding the children about Jesus being a carpenter and His work in helping other in need (through love) you should look at your local community needs. Then build things out of that wood that would help.
Using plywood or other wood cut out crosses and you may cover with glue to add shells, jewels. pearls, etc. or use to make Christmas Creche stables and figures, other Christmas centerpieces, candle holders, ornaments,etc. With wood burning tool put designs on hot plates,etc. Make book ends, bird houses and feeders, door stops, boards to screw on house numbers to hang or put in the ground with a metal flat rod. These can be cut out in various shapes or cut out the ends in angles. A little sanding, staining, sealing or painting would go a long way.
We made napkin holders from wood. We took a piece 1" thick wood and cut it to a size that would fit a paper napkin. We drilled two holes at the end and had the kids glue dowels into them. we then took a narrow piece of wood with matching drilled holes and this piece would slip over the dowels standing up. The kids glued a pretty picture with a bible verse and covered over them with water downed glue. I hope this helps.
We also made key holders from strips of wood. The kids glued pictures with bible verses on the upper half and at the botter we had them screw in hooks to hang keys on.
You can also make house number signs. Hammer a stake to the back of a piece of wood. Get pretty tacks and have the kids hammer them into the wood following the outline of their house number. If you need more info let me know
You could make key racks. Sand the pices of wood til smooth. Paint or stain pieces of wood about 4"x6" These can also be decorated with markers. Screw cup hooks (1 for each person in the household who has keys)into decorated block for keys. Put one hook on top of block to hang from the wall, or glue ribbon/yarn/cord loop to back for hanging. I did this with Cub Scouts, and they were able to do all the steps necessary to complete the project. The pieces of wood were precut by me.
When my 50 something boys were little they went with friends to VBS. In those days if a kid played his cards right he could spend the summer in VBS. We took the neighbors to ours and they reciprocated. One year they came home with "the whole armor of God" all made of plywood except the girdle of truth and the breastplate of righteousness.
Another idea popped into my head after reading more of these posts: How about making BOOK ENDS, they could even be decoupage to look like actual books or even Magazine Holders.
-----> But by far, my favorite idea (so far) was posted by Jean. It's the KEY HOLDER (which can also be used for necklaces, & hair accessories or for hanging Belts or hair scarves). I think this is a great idea because it is FUNCTIONAL & not just fun for the child to make, but any parent would want one & would proudly hang it on their wall for all the world to see & use. I also love the idea of decoupaging a picture on to the Key Holder... The formula for the glue is half white glue ($1 store) & half water, then buy a pack of foam brushes at the $1 store & paint the waterd-down glue both under & over the pictures... a "Clear" picture works best. For example a Napkin front that's been pealed away from the second layer would work much better (because it's transparent) than a picture from a magazine (which is opaque) you could also buy a pack or 2 of tissue paper in several colors & do a "Tear & paste" with these many colors over the face of the key holder. Another thing that's fun to use to decoupage is wrapping paper ($1 store). Then when the kids are done, you could take them all outside & spray them with a cheapie, clear spray paint (at Walmart for 99 cents). Just take an old box & use this to contain the spray (don't let the kids breath it!) or just lay out some junk mail on the ground & spray your decoupaged or tissue papered items on.
* I bet the kids would get quite bored doing any sanding at all, so if you know someone at the church who has a drum sander, ask them if they could please take a bit of their time to quickly just take off the rough edges on 20 or so pieces (whatever you need, plus 15 percent extra "just in case"). And since the kids aren't actually playing with these, (they'll be hanging on the wall) I don't think it'll hurt if the wood looks & feels a bit rough.
How about making bird houses? Then the kids can paint them, decorate them, take them home or leave them at the church for all to enjoy!
We use small blocks of wood with a hole drilled in top to make mini vases and then the children make ribbon flowers. You can then give these out for mothers day, easter etc, instead of paying vast amounts for fresh flowers (the parents love the idea of recycling left over wood too).
Along the same line, inscribe with passage numbers, use to border a garden area.
You could have various sizes of these scrap pieces of wood for the younger children to have blocks to build with.
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