Question: Teen Girl Group Craft?
30 January 2012
6,494 views
20 Comments
by heather
Usually we post questions from you, our readers, and let everyone brainstorm away on them. Well, today I have a question for everyone! I am in charge of crafts at an overnight event for teen girls, so I need some craft ideas that can be made as a make and take at an event. I will have 100 to 200 girls stopping by over the course of a couple hours to make crafts with me. I need the crafts to be inexpensive, fairly quick (15-30 mins max), easy to explain, and appealing to girls 13-18.
I am thinking about doing the no-sew recycled t-shirt tote bag (pictured above).
We have gotten some great suggestions at our Facebook Page, but I want to see what else we can come up with!
I like the tote bag idea because it would go fairly quickly. You could also teach them to make their own feather hair extensions. You would just need hair clips, feathers and wire and/or glue.
Oh, another idea! Although it may not be cost prohibitive… have them make shrinkfilm jewelry. You would need lots of shrinkfilm though and either a few heat guns or a toaster oven. Would be fun though!
I can’t believe someone suggested glitter, ha! I agree with the marble magnets, you can do tie-die with sharpies and rubbing alcohol… fabric stenciled infinity scarves from tshirts, headbands from jersey
I’ve made DIY Butterfly Shadow Boxes with a large group of girls with success. All you need is scrapbooking paper or old magazines, glue, butterfly templates (find online), and dollarstore shadow box frames. Leaves lots of rooms for creativity and for the girls to express themselves in unique ways. Find an example here: http://krystle-rose.blogspot.com/2010/04/butterfly-shadow-box-green.html
Any type of accessory would be great for teens! Headbands, necklaces, barrettes, bracelets.
Headband and hair accessories are all the rage right now. You could have a table with lots of options for gluing onto headbands (the stretchy ones or the ‘horseshoe’ ones) or barrette clips, OR even just tiny bobby pins.
I’m thinking feathers, beads, flowers, bows, ribbons and even little toys or trinkets – oh wouldn’t scrabble letters be cute?
If it were me, I would print up a bunch of hair accessory photos to give the girls ideas. Then they could mix and match and make their own. I find when working with a large group you have very different levels of ability and interest. Some folks like to spend a lot of time on a craft, others just don’t. Having photos gives people confidence, they see what’s possible and then it can lead to their own inspirations.
What about making flower cabochon earrings? You can get cabochons in tons of different styles and colors. The earrings are very simple to make… just hot glue the cabochons to stud posts and you’re done!
Also another idea, how about t-shirt scarves?
http://entirelysmitten.typepad.com/entirelysmitten/2011/08/no-sew-t-shirt-scarf-make-it.html
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/crafts-projects/make-this-quick-n-easy-ringlet-t-shirt-scarf.html
Wow, what a great sized group! My teen groups are usually closer to a dozen or two, but let’s see…
Beadie buddies can be fun and inexpensive, since the ingredients are easily purchased in bulk. The downside is not everyone “gets” the patterns right away, so you might need a couple of helpers circulating to help out. Here’s a site with some patterns: http://www.beadiecritters.com/
Making books and journals can be fun and inexpensive: http://www.craftypod.com/2008/06/18/how-to-make-playing-card-notebooks-accordion-style/
One that I really like is hinge book necklaces. Take a 3/4″ hinge (or whatever size you prefer/can get), a strip of blank paper 4″ long and the same height as the hinge, some scraps of colorful paper, ribbon, and something to decorate like small beads, glitter, or sequins. Cut pieces of colored paper to fit the front and back of the hinge and glue with tacky glue and decorate. Fan-fold the strip of paper the same width as the hinge and glue the ends to the inside of hinge. Poke a hole through the back cover through the top screw hole and thread the ribbon ends though hole, then through the loop. Ta-da!
Marble magnets/pins. Get a ton of magazines donated and have them trace pictures or quotes to fit the marble, cut out, and glue face up on the marble, then glue a pin back or magnet to the back. They can do a half dozen or so pretty quickly.
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/glow-in-the-dark-comet-675627/ This looks pretty quick and simple and could be pretty cheap if you substitute tennis balls for something found at the dollar store…
And finally (sorry for the long post, I get excited!), I’m doing this with kids during the school break next month: http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/2023/buzzing-top/index.html If you can get a laser printer for printing this on cardstock, I think it would work less, so there’s no smearing.
Magnetic memo boards are quick and easy to make using roof flashing available at a home improvement center. I’ve purchased pieces that are 5 X 7 inches, precut, in packages of 50. The corners are a bit pointy but can easily be rounded using one of the heavy duty corner chompers and holes for adding a ribbon hanger can be made with a crop-a-dile (best, probably, to do that ahead of time so there are no flying pieces). You could have pieces of patterned paper cut to fit, already with adhesive or not, and ribbons, stickers, etc from the Dollar Store available for decorating. Time permitting, you could even make marble magnets.
Take a look at this memory book I just posted on my craft blog. We did this at a sleepover for our church girl’s last fall. They enjoyed it!
http://buggalcrafts.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/diy-girls-memory-book/
Headpin pendants made with beads and head pins. I like cutting up stockings to put them on since they are stretchy and cheap for really comfy chokers. Just cut loops by cutting them horizontally.
Another idea is safety pin bracelets.
http://craftsbyamanda.com/2010/07/safety-pin-bracelet.html
I tried to post another reply but it won’t post here?
@Nessa, yeah! That is actually a plan of mine! I’m gonna buy the shrink plastic in bulk!
What about headbands made from neckties? You can get them at the goodwill for 99cents each. Or some thrift stores have a whole bag for $2.50. Each girl can have a unique style and its minimal sewing skills. I’ve got a tutorial here http://margoiscrafty.blogspot.com/2010/09/necktie-headband-tutorial.html
Heather – I’ve purchased #6 plastic at a warehouse store to use for this craft at about $12 for 200 5-inch (2 sided) containers. It works great for shrink art key chains and earrings.
I’ve done scrabble (or bottlecap) pendants as a group – just get some cute scrapbook paper (and some plain paper if they want to write something), your scrabble letters, metal bails to glue on the back and some diamond glaze. All together it’s really very cheap, anyone can do it, and it’s cute, so it’s teen-friendly!
Braided beaded bracelets or necklaces. They can be easily customized by your kids to match their skill & fashion sense.
Brightly colored round satin ribbon and metaltone beads for the fashionistas. Wooden beads and raffia for the neo-hippies. Thin strips of black fabric with skulls & other dark images for the goths. Leather and lace for the C&W crowd. Etc.
Three-string braids for kids who’ve never done this before. More complicated 4- and 5-string braids for kids who saw this in scouts.
[...] in January, I asked for your help to figure out a few craft ideas for a girls' event. The crafts were for girls ages 13-18; I wanted the crafts to be relatively cheap, easy to explain, [...]
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