Ideas for school

frazzled22

Hi everyone!
I am a teacher starting at a new school in September. Once a month we have a special lesson called pep where the teacher can choose what to teach and the children opt in for it. Other teachers have done reading club, boardgames, puzzles and mask making, so the lessons tend to be hobby based. As its a new job I didn't want to run just another reading club as I want to try and impress with my originality, although I'm stuck for ideas!

Here's my criteria:
- Suitable for an hour and 15 minute lesson a fortnight.
- Cheap (I have a budget from the school of around £40 for the year, but I don't mind spending my own money if I might use it myself)
- relatively easy. If its something new to me I need to be able to learn how to do it in 3 weeks.
- fun enough for people to pick it as their lesson and enjoy it the whole year

I would like something crafty, mainly for selfish reasons as I enjoy it but don't have enough spare time when in teaching.
I thought card decorating but I wondered if supplies would end up being too pricey because I would maybe need to introduce new things such as embossing later in the year to liven it up.

Thanks in advance for any help

susan42

I think card making would be ideal for a few lessons. Christmas cards, easter, mothers day, fathers day, thank you card after xmas.

Lots of ideas here , cheap and not just for xmas

What about no cook chocolate cake.

Perhaps balloon art

You don't tell as the ages of the children, perhaps if you could we`d be able to suggest more things

frazzled22

Thanks for the reply!

It's secondary school so the kids are 11-16.

The problem is I have to name the club something specific for the whole year so it can't be just making cards for the first term. This is part of where I'm struggling because I thing card making would last a couple of lessons

jackomdj

Could you do a paper and card club?

This could include card making, paper making (literally making your own paper), decoupage, origami, making paper Christmas decorations.... The list goes on.

The_Cre8tor

You could call it 'Paper Crafting' or if you want to go the step further: 'The Paper Crafting Club' (The P.C. Club). This would cover everything from scrapbooking, through card-making, to decoupage, and all the stops in between those things. Each lesson could be themed towards a date (Mothers/Fathers/Christmas Day etc) or an event such as the summer holidays - where you could teach them how to build their own scrapbook right from scratch (including the covers) so that they could journal their holiday.

You could also cover Paper Crafting from a different angle - that being 'Altered Art' ... They could make their own Journals from an old book, (a buy from the old books in charity shops for a few pence - but get ones with hard covers) and from there they would learn how to alter these books in order to change them into journals - being art, word, or anything they could use this altered book for, and use them during the summer holidays! (Even if it was collecting bus tickets from rides into town, then add a bit of writing about what the journey was about or what happened that day etc).

I could go on (my mind's buzzing now! lol) but if I'm on the wrong track I don't want to take up your time reading stuff that isn't what you're hoping for. But .. even if I've gone down the wrong road, maybe I may have opened up an idea that you might be able to use.

Good luck!

cabriolean

...Call it the craft club or something similar so you are left very flexible. And this makes it easier to provide two or three activities to pick from each time....I helped out with a craft with kids thing, and a couple already knew origami and finished way too soon (I turned up and there wasn't enough paper:eek: [3 pieces each, but a lot got overfolded or broken] 17 kids who I didn't know too well, because 2 helpers hadn't shown up, and not-the-best instructions for an origami shape I'm not familiar with, lucky stars and boxes are about my limit) and started going nutty.......I ended up getting them to play charades, not exactly a craft but.....yeah:p

About the budget, you could have a (Christmas?) craft sale, I find it really easy to make ornaments from the following recipe and they sell quite well

Bright white clay is made using:
Baking Soda
Cornstarch
Water
Preferably on hand: stamps, cookie cutters, straws to make holes, food colouring/ink
Very cheap and make nice Christmas decorations, presents, or whatever and can be stamped, moulded, can also be coloured with food colouring.
Prep time for a big batch: 45mins



Papercraft

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2013/04/make-a-paper-mache-confetti-bowl/

Origami
Lucky stars (I use a paper cutter/guillotine to make my own strips from cheap coloured A4 paper because it's so much cheaper) Very simple and if you collect some jars they can try to fill one for each classroom or themselves or whatever.
Prep time for 1000 strips (not sure how many kids you'll have): 20mins, you can google the ratio (I know what it looks like, but not the actual figures) and if you do it portrait and landscape you get different sizes. There's also a myth that if you get to a 1000 you get a wish....

Unisex Festive things:
Autumn Equinox (September)
Salt dough leaf prints http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2009/09/salt-dough-leaf-prints.html
Halloween (October)
Mini Posable Mummies http://cfabbridesigns.com/craft-projects/mini-mummies-2/#.UhPuFZLU-Sq Cheap, can alter cost by making smaller or larger

Group Projects:
Making murals out of post-it notes.......

I'm going to bed now, might edit this later. Good luck.

glynisrose

I would stick to one thing eg. card making and start off with simple cards and get more adventurous as the year goes on, there are lots of designs at
http://s27.photobucket.com/user/d0npen/library/Card%20Templates?sort=6&page=1
that are more complex and require measuring etc. With your £40 I would buy a scoring board, glue, double sided tape and cutting implements (scissors or craft knives, metal rulers and cutting mats depending on the levels of students) Lots of hints and tips on U-tube too!!