Help... need a craft project for Jr High Kids

[Ldumont999]

HELP.
I need a fun craft or activity for my Jr. Church crowd. Mostly girls but there are one or two boys who occasionally join us.. It does not need to be overtly Christian (not crosses or bible story related). Just a good craft that makes something that might be useful and/or fun to make. I'm a writer so I can pretty much relate any craft to some Bible story (grin). We've already made bookmarks, cards and small gift boxes/baskets out of paper. We baked cookies, baked cupcakes & baked bread for seniors, homeless and shut-ins. We tie-dyed t-shirts, built bird houses, and made journal books for the kids themselves. I need something different! I don't want it to cost a fortune - since the money comes out of my pocket - but I'm more than willing to put out some cash if the project is special enough. It needs to be "done" in 45 minutes. It needs to pretty cool - geared toward junior high kids who are worldly-wise (we live just outside of NYC). It can even be something we can give away to other kids who are not as blessed as we are - so long as the craft is sturdy.

[Takinmytyme]

How about making really neat journals. There are some really great books on how to make different style books.From very tiny ones to bigger sizes. All kinds of different ways to do the spines with thread/yarn. Great ways to fold or cut designs in the pages.Different types of paper can be used. Or design your own. Decorate it with diffeerent materials. Hang beads from the spine.If you need tittles on How To Make Books, you can Private message me here. What about designing a Magazine. Your students can contribute stuff to be put into it. Then leave the rest blank for who ever gets it to add stuff to it. That's just a few ideas i had. Jan

[Ldumont999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Takinmytyme

How about making really neat journals. There are some really great books on how to make different style books.From very tiny ones to bigger sizes. All kinds of different ways to do the spines with thread/yarn. Great ways to fold or cut designs in the pages.Different types of paper can be used. Or design your own. Decorate it with diffeerent materials. Hang beads from the spine.If you need tittles on How To Make Books, you can Private message me here. What about designing a Magazine. Your students can contribute stuff to be put into it. Then leave the rest blank for who ever gets it to add stuff to it. That's just a few ideas i had. Jan

Thanks for responding to my thread. I originally posted elsewhere but got no response. Journals are a great idea - but I've already done them.
Quote from my original post: We've already made bookmarks, cards and small gift boxes/baskets out of paper. We baked cookies, baked cupcakes & baked bread for seniors, homeless and shut-ins. We tie-dyed t-shirts, built bird houses, and made journal books for the kids themselves.

[CraftyMel2]

Is this going to be for the holidays or for the heck of it? I love the altered pop top cans! I make those for just about any occasion and poeple love to recieve them If you use canned veggies, chili, soup...I can find a pop top can in just about every section of the food store and in all different sizes!

[Ldumont999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraftyMel2

Is this going to be for the holidays or for the heck of it? I love the altered pop top cans! I make those for just about any occasion and poeple love to recieve them If you use canned veggies, chili, soup...I can find a pop top can in just about every section of the food store and in all different sizes!

Right now I'm looking for something for the fall - but I ALWAYs need projects. I do something "fun" with the kids about once a month. The rest of the time I actually teach a class. That once a month is also a great time for them to invite friends.

This pop-top can thing sounds perfect! So... how do I do this? Do you have a link to a sample or maybe a video?

[Ldumont999]

WOW... did a quick web search on my break at work and found a GREAT tutorial on how-to make this. THANK YOU so much for bringing this idea to my attention. I'm definitely going to do this one. SO.... any more great ideas. :mrgreen:

[mamaxsix]

Here's the tutorial for the pop-top cans.
I would guess that anything involving candy would go over well too. You could do the wrapped Nuggets or candy bar holdersThese test tube holders look fun or there's always the starbucks drinks 4 pack to alter and fill. Or you could fill bags and make toppers for them, the peppermint patty sandwiches look good in the clear bags. At Christmas time they could make the stamped tile coasters or I've had kids make tags and wrapped fancy soaps with fabric and tied with ribbon and the tags.
Good luck and have fun Louise!

[Novell]

Teach them how to knit something? Maybe create something with felted wool? I've heard cheap wool sweaters can be picked up at thrift stores, then felted. How about making some hot cup sleeves from the felted wool?

Maybe check Pinterest for some craft ideas?

[CraftyMel2]

There is a tutorial on SCS:

Splitcoaststampers - Altered Pop Top Can Project Tutorial by Julie Buhler

And here is a video:

Pop top cans with Dawn - YouTube

I use the Hormel Chili cans because I like the size of them. In the video she is using fruit cup cans (the small ones)

I don't have any pictures of the ones that I have made but trust me, people love them


haha, we all posted links at the same time

[Ldumont999]

BTW... the tutorial is listed right here on SCS (duh - should have looked here first. LOL :???
Tutorial for Pop-Top Cans I think that the little mandarin orange cans will be perfect for this AND I am planning to make these for my family for little Christmas gifts as well. This is just SUCH an AWESOME idea. I do not know how i missed seeing this before.. I really need to quit my job and retire so I can spend more time on these forums. LOL

Again... would LOVE more ideas!

[Ldumont999]

Wow... you reminded me that I bought a bunch of test tubes almost a year ago and stuck them in the closet. Now is definitely the time to pull those out. Thanks! And you are right, anything with candy goes over well. We usually do the candy things to be given-away to someone, but the kids get to eat some of the left-overs. :-) Also love the fancy soaps idea. We can do that for shut-ins around the holidays or for the nursing homes. We can also get less "fancy" ones for the guys and do a more manly wrap. I do not do much sewing so the "felting" idea doesn't sound like something I could do. I might consider having them make a full package of gift tags and box them for their mom's before the holidays. I have plenty of papers, punches, stamps to do that. I do crochet (been doing that since I was five yrs old) but I'm not sure I can teach them to do this and complete any project in a hour. Through all your great ideas I was reminded that I have cell bags in every size. I have tons of the M&M ones that became popular a while back. I could have them fill the long strip-cello's with appropriate colored M&M's (green for St. Patties Day, red/white/blue for 4th July, etc) and distribute those. Might be interesting. Thank you ALL for your great ideas. I'm muddling them through during lunch. Keep the ideas coming.

[basketostamps]

i would recommend doing altered notebooks. you can buy composition notebooks right now for really cheap. cover them with really nice scrapbook paper. embellish with their name or initial--they love stuff with their names or initals on it.

[Ldumont999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by basketostamps

i would recommend doing altered notebooks. you can buy composition notebooks right now for really cheap. cover them with really nice scrapbook paper. embellish with their name or initial--they love stuff with their names or initals on it.

What a GREAT before school project. And I can ask them to put something on the cover that will show evidence of their faith as a witness to others. Great project AND great lesson. THANK YOU. I think this is the one I'm going to do next week.

[Anemone]

I have found the Anything But a Card section of the SCS gallery to be an awesome place for inspiration for projects for this type of stuff. And for Christmas projects, found the Trim a Tree section particularly useful.
I used to teach junior high.
I did domino Christmas ornaments, which were a hit.
Shrink art is usually a hit as well. I would usually give each a half sheet, let them draw/colour their image, punch a hole, shrink it, and then attach to a keychain. If you don't have access to an oven, a piece of wood and your heat gun will work just fine.
We did coaster boxes (similar to these by TMaja Coaster boxes by TMaja - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers, only I didn't do the dividers inside).
The RSVP beaded pens.
One year we did snow globes with empty pop top cans and glass balls from Ms.
Any number of other ornament projects that can be done with the glass balls.
We did decorative plates once - clear glass plates, patterned tissue paper or stamp on tissue or pretty paper napkins. Cut out the bits & pieces you want, put a coat of modge podge on the plate, lay down your pretty pieces, and then podge over them. Best done on the bottom side of the plate.
I did the pinecone ornaments once, although I think they took considerably longer than 45 minutes. But maybe it could be a 2-week project.

I also found makingfriends.com to be a great site for ideas.
HTH!

[mwebber]

HI Louise- Have you heard of The Butterfly Project? Handmade butterflies are donated
to the Holocaust Museum in Houston, TX to memorialize the 1.5 million Jewish children
who lost their lives during the Holocaust. Check out the website Holocaust Museum Houston for more
details. I found this info on the Craft Gossip website today. Maybe I was meant to pass
this on to you today!
Hope this helps,
Maryellen

[Crimped]

I recently made a necklace that would be good for boys or girls. The pendant is a washer stamped with simple words such as love, believe, faith etc. You can do small and large and string them on ribbon, leather or inexpensive chains. There is a tutorial on the internet for washer necklace. Good luck

[Ldumont999]

All excellent ideas. Love the necklace idea, checked out the butterfly site and will certainly have them make those, and I'm looking into something to do with the domino's as well. I'm sure every idea in this thread will get used some time during the next year. Thank you, thank you, thank you all..

[RiverIsis]

Are those intricately braided friendship bracelets all passe now?

[SophieLaFontaine]

How about refrigerator magnets or altered photo frames? Or small photo frames FOR the refrigerator?

[purplepatch]

The children around here like to make key chains with the scooby strings (scou bijou). Also, mosaic pictures using magazines to make posters, and decoupage, with either magazines or wrapping paper on any object, are popular crafts.
You could use little glass jars to make those snow globe shaker jars.
I recently helped some children make/ learn some magic tricks and make magic kits so the children had a few tricks to do a little show. There's lots of ideas for this if you google it.
HTH!

[SophieLaFontaine]

Or personalized calendars...

[Ldumont999]

Wow... SOOOOOooooo many great ideas. Thank you everyone. Tomorrow I will be making mini altered note books for the Jr High kids to use for school. I've begun emptying pop-top cans and made one sample already just to make sure I can do it easily enough. Came out GREAT. I've made a list of all the other ideas and I think I've got pretty much every month (I only do one special project per month) covered from now until December 2013. LOL You guys are wonderful. But keep the ideas coming if you have them. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who is looking for ideas before the new school year begins. Blessings to you all for your generous support.

[mamaxsix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by purplepatch

Also, mosaic pictures using magazines to make posters, and decoupage, with either magazines or wrapping paper on any object, are popular crafts.

HTH!

Another idea for mosaics is to cut up paint swatches for the color chips.

[Ldumont999]

Well... this past Sunday I made altered mini-comp books with the kids. Both the girls and the boys loved doing this. I had some jean-like paper and some wood grain paper that the boys scarfed right up - along with brass brads, etc. The girls, of course, gravitated toward the pinks and purples and decorated with flowers and buttons. Turned out SO nice. Also had some paper rick-rack and mini-owls (mascot of their jr high) that many used to decorate as well.

Thank you all for the great ideas. Now I almost have more ideas than I have time to use them. LOL Blessings to each and every one of you.

[EvaC]

We have a small group at that level at our church but this summer they did melted crayon art on inexpensive flat canvas, They LOVED it. I am pretty sure the director found it on pinterest.