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Dianne E. posted
We painted all our workshops last summer, on a shoestring budget. I placed a blurb in our church newsletter asking for any paint that people had leftover from home improvement projects, especially bright colors. I also visited local hardware and paint stores, who will sell returned paint (the color wasn't quite what the customer ordered) for next to nothing. In most of the workshops, we projected images on the wall, traced and painted. Our walls are cinderblock, and for one wall in our art workshop, we painted random blocks bright primary colors. The remaining blocks, we had the children put their handprints in the same colors, then they could sign and date it. Another wall we had some of the kids go crazy with splatter painting. It was fun for them, and the result was great. We used plain interior latex paint (a must with cleanup). We used all volunteers to do the actual painting, so total cost was less than $200 for six workshops and a long hallway.
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'Leslie' posted
Another money saving tip: check out your local recycling center. If you call and let them know to save all the paint they receive, you'll have a good deal to choose from. Contractors have access to lots of leftovers, too.
We have always had a tiny decorating budget, but, fortunately, we also have wildly creative people!
Find cheapo fabric at the Walmart in the dollar bin. Use this to define areas by stapling it to ceiling and "swooping" it. (An easy storytelling tent, or with a small platform built from scraps and painted, a stage area for a drama workshop). You can also staple the fabric to the wall to define an area. We had a jungly-looking print fabric we used as a backdrop for dramas.
"Oops" (returned) paint at the home improvement store is super cheap.
We painted a hallway in bright blue, then used "oops" paint of many colors to create fish and other sealife. We glued foam weather stripping into a circle shape and mounted it onto cardboard. This we then dipped into a seafoam colored paint, and printed bubbles on the wall. The whole thing is really cool, the kids love it, and a 100 foot hallway cost us maybe $30 to paint!
Remember to use space other than the walls for decorating. Hang things from the ceiling:windsocks, kites, stuffed animals, art projects, giant dice or markers (games), etc. Refrigerator boxes are a staple - we've used them for huts, ticket booths, Bible times houses, market stalls, quiet reading areas and many others.(Always make sure children can be seen and supervised).
Window paint is fun for the kids, can be changed at any time and will suit any theme. Swags over the windows are a super easy thing to do (even for non-sewers like me!). You can use fabric, fake ivy or other vines, long branches, ribbon, kites,fake flowers, anything you can put together to cover the tops of the windows for interest. Good luck - hope all turns out well! JOY
We have the combination of a small budget and being in a church that we only have use of on Sundays, which has made us extra creative. If we want to put something on a wall it has to be able to go over what is already there, so I often just ignore the walls.
Almost everything we have comes from Thrift stores, clearance racks, and garage sales I'm always on the lookout for anything that looks "Biblical".
We use big pieces of colored fabric to create ground, water, grass, etc this is especially useful in drama. We hang a curtain by a rope across the corner of a room which the teacher for our story telling workshop sits in front of giving us our"Tent"illusion, and the kids sit on a wool blanket with lots of pillows. We also have big baskets we use in differnt place. For our movie workshop we put out twinkling lights along the hallway leading to the room and a "Now Showing" Poster we create for the current video placed on an easel. Out front. I bought some dark maroon upholstry velvet and am making theatre curtains which I hand on an expansion rod leading into the room.
I found bought a plaster pillar on sale at the fabric store and found another at a thrift shop, these get used in art and drama. For our art workshop I bought a 3 tiered metal art cart which I found great deal on at Boeing Surplus. It is handy not only for storing art supplies on but it adds to the atmoshphere.
I loved the pictures of other church's workbench type tablesin their art rooms. To imitate this I pinned a couple of sheets to the side of the storage building in my yard - it has long, rough horizontal boards which I used as guides to paint wood boards onto my sheets - knot holes and all! This looks really cool and whenever paint - or snacks - get on them it just adds to the look.
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