The Grapes of Canaan

When I saw a review game that used giant grapes made out of balloons I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to make a giant bunch of grapes to represent the ones the spies brought back from Canaan in Numbers 13?” Actually it was pretty cool, and it was not that difficult. And of course, it did not cost that much. The only thing I purchased was

Repurposing in Children's Ministry

The Fiery furnace lends itself to drama. It is an easy story to bring to life with just a few simple props. I originally was going to make a refrigerator box into a fiery furnace. However, I found they were not as easy to get as I thought. 

Then our short term mission’s team asked if they could set up our puppet stage, which we NEVER use, so they could practice for their trip. They wanted to know if they could keep it up for the TWO whole months before their trip. 

So here I was with this space hogging stage in my Sunday School area and no place for the furnace that wasn’t materializing anyway. 

"What's a girl to do in a situation like this?" I said to myself.

Then it hit me –

KidFrugal

KidFrugal is a blog all about making ministry happen when there are no resources to make it happen. It is about doing it anyway, because with God nothing is impossible. It is about doing children’s ministry when you do not have enough workers, money, building space or even kids. It is about making children’s ministry happen in churches with limited resources because we have a God with unlimited resources. I hope to equip you with ideas we have used, and more importantly, to get you

Colorful DIY Felt Boards

When I redid my 1940s classroom, I stripped it down to the plain walls and one table. I took the

bulletin and chalk boards down and the shelves and brackets off the wall and got rid of the storage cupboard. Then I scoured Pinterest for ideas of how to create an enticing classroom in a small space.

Last week you saw the metal board organizer I found and made. I also saw these cool flannel boards on Pinterest that were placed low enough for kids to play with. The flannel boards came from one of my favorite blogs, Apartment Therapy which has great DIY ideas for small spaces.

The Pinterest project called for Homasote boards.  I had no idea what Homasote was. Neither did the guy at Home Depot or our other local chain, so I did what any sensible person would do, I googled it.

I learned that Homasote is a brand name for a wall board product. It turns out that Homasote, and its generic counterparts are great for DIY projects. This fiber board has some added benefits. It absorbs sound, it’s moisture resistant and it even provides thermal insulation. Wow! And I just wanted functional felt boards that looked good.

 

I decided to make my boards shorter and wider than the tall and narrow boards on the original

Pinterest post. I had the vision of having felt cutout pieces from Bible stories available for the kids to play with when they arrived early.

Creating Space in Small Places

For my first remodel challenge, I attacked one of the rooms used for a Sunday School class in our children's area. Since the rooms were built in the 1940’s, they are small. Very small.  I think kids just sat at tables back then and never moved, so you could cram a bunch of them into a small room.  To view the complete remodel of this room, click here.

One of the first issues I addressed was how to make the most out of my small space. First I removed the cupboard and shelves that were taking up space in the room.

Next I made one of the organizational pins I had seen on Pinterest.  It was a magnetic board with little metal boxes stuck to it to hold crayons, scissors, glue sticks and all the stuff that had been in my cupboard.

Don’t Be a Wallflower – Make a Wall-Tree Instead!

I love this tree because it is 3D AND you can make it from used paper.

 If you have brown or black paper that you have used for a bulletin board background or for anything else, it can be repurposed for this tree. Because the paper gets twisted it doesn’t matter if it is wrinkled or messed up a little. You can even upcycle the brown packing paper that some companies stuff their boxes with to make this tree.

Classroom Upgrade

Our children’s ministry is located in the 1940s wing of our church facility. Needless to say, it is old. It needed a big overhaul, but not everyone was ready for that. Since I WAS, I began with my own class room.

Before Picture: space hogging cabinet and bulletin board removed

The first thing I did was to strip the room down. There was a huge bulletin board and a chalk board. I wanted the walls free so I could do whatever I wanted. I also took down the bookshelves and wall brackets.

The bulletin and chalk boards were glued to the wall, so it was a big job to take them off. Then