REC-Room Activities: Arts & Crafts

			Activities: Arts & Crafts

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Fantasy Posters (who/what do you want to be?)

Group Size: 1-10
Ages: 5-12
When or where to use activity: Any time of year, intergenerational or RE session, sleep-over.
Materials needed:
Large (48")wide white roll paper, poster paints, different size brushes, scissors, pencils

Description:
We did this project at our sleepover - we made paintings of animals etc with cut-outs for faces, so we could take their pictures (like those photo things at amusement parks where you can have your picture taken in Western garb). Using large roll paper (not newsprint), we cut pieces about 5-6 feet long, one per child. Once they decided what they were going to paint, and which way the paper would be laid out (horizontal or vertical), we "sized" their faces, then traced an oval on the paper as a starting point. They drew their animal with a pencil, then used poster paint to color it in. Younger children will need help with the drawing, to get the animal body to scale with the face. The paper stood up really well and did not bleed through onto the floor. Some of them drew some scenery, and added little touches like sparkles and shiny paper. They spent a good two hours on this project and did a great job. We taped the paper to a large piece of cardboard (I cut out all their faceholes according to where the hole needed to be), and took everyone's picture. We hung the pictures in the hallway of the church for the adults to see on Sunday morning. They made little cards with the title of their picture and their names, like in an art exhibit. The kids really liked the project a lot. The only limitation on group size would be space to lay out all these pieces of paper. This project would probably also appeal to youth, and maybe even adults!

(Saturday, March 10, 2001 at 17:36:14 (EST))

Using junk

Group Size: 10-20
Ages: 7-18
When or where to use activity: Christmas/Earth Day/Retreats.
Materials needed:
Tin Can Lids, Oatmeal Boxes, junk

Description:
Here's some ideas for Can lids and Oatmeal boxes. Juice Can Lids: We use these as a base to do stained glass ornaments or suncatchers. Grease the OJ lids with Crisco. Take different color plastic Mardi Gras beads and let the kids can cut them apart, and place different colors to make designs on the lids. The lids are then put into an oven set the oven at about 250 until the beads melt together. It takes 20 - 25 minutes. (You can push the temperature up higher, just be forwarned that it smells. Do in it a well ventilated area. Pop the beads out of the lids, and attach a ribbon and hang where light can shine through. Oatmeal boxes can be made into pinhole cameras for a wonderful photography project. They are quite simple to make and the photos are very unusual. There are usually books on pinhole photography in your library...or maybe find info on the net about it. It's a great activity for a church retreat! I usually save stuff like plastic lids, etc. for junk sculpture. Just keep a bag of stuff and when you talk about recycling, pull these out with lots of glue and tape available...usually you need one adult to man the hotglue...and let the kids go wild. You will be amazed at the wonderful things they come up with. Keep a box that is just for unusual junk...it comes in handy!

(Wednesday, April 12, 2000 at 09:34:57 (EDT))

Story-based activities for summer program

Group Size: Varying sizes, depending on summer attendance. Mostly between 10 and 20 for us
Ages: Mixed ages, preschool-Grade 5 with older youth as helpers
When or where to use activity: Sundays in summer, but some are adaptable to other mixed-age gatherings.
Materials needed: Listed with individual activities, or in recommended books

Description:

Here are the general format and the other seven story ideas for the Sunday-in-a-Box thing that we did last summer. As noted below, I would go back and change the craft if we use "Long Live Earth" and "Earthdance" again, but it won't be hard to do. I really do recommend the book, Every Day is Earth Day, a book of craft projects made out of recyclables. Even if you don't use the specific ideas here, you can probably find projects in there to match with earth-centered stories you may already have.

Summer '98 SUNDAY-IN-A-BOX: ART AND NATURE

General Format for sessions:

Chalice Lighting We light this chalice to celebrate Unitarian Universalism. This is the church of the open mind, This is the church of the helping hands, This is the church of the loving heart.

Snack and Story Older kids help prepare snacks for everyone. This will include making the lemonade and making popcorn or, if there's a "theme snack" that goes with the day's activity, passing those out to all the kids. When the kids are all settled with their snacks, they hear a story. (I got this idea from Carol Burrus at the Ren Module in Waco last year - thanks, Carol. It's the summer version of her "Story Hour" with hot chocolate that she uses for 2nd Service during the RE year)

Craft or Other Activity The kids make a simple craft related to the story. As often as possible, we try to have everyone doing the same thing, but make it something that the older kids can make more complex if they so choose.

Games or Outside Play - Most games come from the book Everyone Wins, a great book of cooperative games that are cross-referenced by age range and group size.

STORY IDEAS We did The Salamander Room, a wonderful book with beautiful illustrations, about a little boy who brings home a salamander and wants to keep it, and then starts imagining all the things from nature he'll have to bring home in order to keep the salamander happy. By the end, his room is a forest, and it's great to watch it "grow," page by page. For the activity, they turned the Social Hall into a "Salamander Room." They made "People Trees": Have each child (adults, too!) lie down on a piece of mural paper with hands up over his/her head like a tree, and let another child or adult trace around the whole body, head, arms and all. The only difference is that instead of drawing separate legs, they draw straight across at the bottom so that the legs become the "trunk" (like most things UU, this is not etched in stone, and we had some really cool 2-trunk trees, too!) Then the children color in their own trees (actually, ours used water color paints and sponge-brushes, and it wasn't too scary at all :-), and you hang them all around the room. It's wonderful to see the variations in shapes and sizes, especially if the adults participate, too. Some kids will just make the whole top of their tree green, while others will use the arms, head and fingers quite creatively as branches. Turning off the lights and playing some nice, "forest-y" music with soothing sound effects help set a nice mood, too. Our kids got quite carried away with just the trees, but if you really wanted to go crazy with this one, you could also have some small recyclables on hand, along with scissors, tape and construction paper, for making some 3-D "animals" to go in the forest. The possibilities are endless!

We also did a lesson with a "Night" theme in a darkened room, using a lighted constellation map that projects stars onto the ceiling and a simulated "campfire" made of flashlights and red and yellow cellophane. For the story, one of the volunteers (with a small flashlight) read "God Is Like The Night" from Hide and Seek with God by Mary Ann Moore. No pictures here, but with the stars and "fire," no need. For the activity, we turned the lights back on and let the kids make pictures on black construction paper with glow-in-the-dark chalk and those stick-on glow-in-the-dark stars and planets that kids put up in their rooms. Then at the end, we turned off the light again to look at their pictures. Very cool. For snack, they munched on Magic Shapes cereal (a Brookshire's knock-off of Lucky Charms, but anything with moons and stars will do). This one did require the most prep time, and I was in there that day mainly because all "newbies" signed up for that date and we wanted to encourage them and not scare them away (!!!!), but most Sundays, Barbara the DRE, Cherrie the Co-Chair and I actually went to church.

Here are the rest: Father's Day: Story: "God Is Like a Father" from Hide and Seek with God. Craft: Fabric painting on T-shirts and other clothing items for Dads or other special grown-ups in their lives. We publicize this in advance and ask the kids to bring shirts from home, but we also buy a few extra XL and 2XL T-shirts to have on hand for those who forget. Don't forget waxed paper to put inside the shirts to keep the paint from soaking through. Also, we keep on hand a collection of old, oversized T-shirts to put on the kids as paint smocks.

Story: Long Live Earth by Meighan Morrison Craft: Begin "Good Earth Necklaces" from Every Day Is Earth Day; pp. 12-13 Experiment: "Breakdow" from Projects for a Healthy Planet, pp.36-38 This is an experiment comparing a homemade"milk plastic" to biodegradable commercial plastic and non-biodegradable plastic when all three are buried underground. The kids can bury and label the three kinds of plastic, then check it every couple of weeks throughout the summer to see how long each one takes to degrade. Even though this is a continuing activity, it's easy enough to bring kids up to speed on it each week.(Note: I made some plastic ahead of time for the kids to bury, because it takes awhile to harden completely, but I also included making more plastic in the lesson, so that the kids could be in on the process, and watch it begin to solidify.)

Story: Earthdance by Norman Gorbaty Craft: Finish "Good Earth Necklaces" (Note: For this one project,we broke our own rule about having lessons that stand alone. We were so taken with the "Earth Necklaces," which are pendants made out of dirt and glue - yes, really - and painted to look like the earth. We thought, "What could be more fun for a kid than making jewelry that's a little ball of dirt?" And they really do turn out nicely in the end, *but,* I think we'd do better to move this project to a regular RE class and pick two separate crafts to go with these two books. Live and learn. The good news is that the two books listed above are full of great stuff, and it won't be hard to find alternatives.)

Story: Arrow to The Sun by Gerald McDermott Craft:"Sun prin" pictures Supplies needed: Enough sun print kits for each child to make at least one picture (If some people already have kits at home, you may only need the refill paper. "Solargraphics" is one name for these, and there are others.) Small items to put in the pictures (Leaves, twigs, etc.) Kids can go outside to collect these and lay out their pictures after the story. Several large, shallow pans to fill with water and develop the pictures afterward. (Check instructions on kits to see what else is needed)

Story: Gila Monsters Meet You At the Airport This is a great story about moving, but also about not stereotyping or prejudging people and places. A kid in New York City is moving out West, and he's sure that everyone will be a cowboy and eat beans for breakfast and that he'll see rattlesnakes everywhere, etc. It's hilarious, and teaches a great lesson. Craft: Sock Cactus, Every Day is Earth Day, pp. 22-23 (Supplies listed in book - great use for all your mismatched socks)

Story: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle Craft: Seedling Necklace, pp. 16-17 OR Giant Hand Flower, pp. 14-15, both from Every Day is Earth Day (Supplies listed in book)

Story: Swimmy by Leo Lionni Great story about what we can do when we work together in community. A school of tiny fish is terrorized by a shark until one of their own helps them realize they can swim around in formation to look like one giant fish, and scare the shark away. Craft: Shark visors Supplies needed: Undecorated plastic visors; smooth, flat craft foam in various colors; large plastic eyes, Tacky Glue. The shark's face (2 eyes and two rows of teeth) goes on the bill of the visor, and a large triangle "fin" goes on top. Precut some fins and teeth for the younger ones. Let the older ones cut the foam into their own designs, or give them a pattern if they want one. They can also put smaller triangle fins on the sides of the visor, at the temples. These look great, but tend to come off with wear. Snack: Blue Jello Jigglers with gummy fish inside (if a volunteer is REALLY motivated), OR the easier alternative, Goldfish crackers ( Activities: Copyright 4/13/99 - Susan Caldwell & Cherrie Groves)

(Tuesday, April 13, 1999 at 14:57:56 (CDT))

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