I don’t do crafts. But sometimes, yeah, I do crafts. This was our activity for the 9 y.o.’s birthday party, but it would lend itself to a VBS project. So I share.
Who were the artists? 18 Girls at the party, ages 3-13. Two of the girls (ages 4 & 6) played on the back porch the whole time, the others painted. All 16 painters, including a few very energetic ones, seemed to enjoy the project and stay focused on their work.
What we did: We painted folding fans. We acquired a box each of these white fabric ones, and these wooden ones. You find them in the wedding section of the craft store, and these were 18-count boxes. We used bottles of washable tempera paint, and also offered markers and glitter-glue (already on hand). For the paint we purchased six-packs of small bottles in metallic and glittery colors, and I think this worked well because no matter how hapless the artist, your paint selection was guaranteed to coordinate.
VBS Themes? This would be a great project if you are studying a saint who lived in a time and place where folding fans were widely used. One of our guests ran back home and brought a list of Japanese words she had from school, and two painters used that for their design. –> For any VBS lesson, you could provide a selection of possible design elements that suits your theme for the day.
Paint Control: Each artist received a cheap saucer-sized paper plate for a pallette. I squirted nickel-sized samples of desired colors on each girls’ plate. The girls got the message, and when they re-filled their paint, they took just a little at a time. I issued new plates on request to a couple artists who needed larger or refreshed pallettes.
Brush Protection: Our array of brushes included old toothbrushes, cheapo kids’ water color brushes, good quality kids’ brushes, and really nice adult painting brushes. I handed out the better kids’ brushes to the girls (one thin, one thick for each to start), but they were free to help themselves to anything on the table. No brush damage! I think that fan-painting lends itself to good brush technique because of the small surfaces.
Rinse Water Management: I used short, heavy mugs and glasses for the rinse water, and filled them no more than half-way. Girls shared cups placed in the center of the table, and I renewed the water on request. Low center of gravity pays off: no water spilled.
Budget: Ours fans were on sale for well less than $1 a piece, but suggested retail was something like $18.99 for an 18-count box. So shop around if your budget is tight. I spent about $10 on paint, and used perhaps a third of it. You could no doubt do much better on paint prices. –> We will use our leftovers on other projects, but for VBS, half-used paint bottles can easily turn into waste. If you need to strictly control the budget, pick just a few colors, and don’t open a new bottle of a color until you’ve finished the old one.
I can’t remember what the paper plates cost, but they were the super cheap ones, and for 16 painters we went through maybe 20 plates. I passed out napkins or paper towels on request, used a handful of those. I already owned the other supplies — brushes, rinse water cups, markers and glitter glue. Most people just used paint. On the wooden fans, this project could be done exclusively with markers if desired.
The paint needs to dry! I used old shower curtains to cover the carpet initially, and then used them to cover the shelving where the girls put out their fans to dry while we had birthday cake.
Project Time: I estimate we spent about 30 minutes on this project? In a classroom setting, you would want to have a second activity on hand for students who finish quickly. It would also be nice to have a come-back-later option for students who chose a very detailed design and ran out of time.
Caution: Everyone wants an extra fan. Just say no.
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