I love to do crafts and have cute handouts and activities for church (and school, and friends, and - well you get the idea). I don't consider myself creative, but often use the help of others' talents. I decided to share what I'm doing for others just like me. It may be a link to where I found something or it might even be something *I* created. Right now I work as a paraprofessional at my kids' elementary - in special ed (autism). I started creating items for my 3rd graders this year and can't wait to share them with you. I am the 1st counselor in YW (first time in YW is this past year). I also have ideas for cub scouts and sunbeams posted, my previous callings.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Artwork/Handout Holder for Nursery

This is a post that is over a year late, but better now than never.  When I was called to nursery I made a bunch of changes.  This one is one of my favorites and everyone else seemed to love it too. One of the things I loved was when my kids visited a nursery in Utah they had a cute tree on the door with birds on it.  When the kids came they moved their bird from the tree to the chalk board.  In fact when I went to search for ideas on Sugar Doodle I found the suggestion there.  I also found a similar idea there with the pictures ready to be downloaded and printed.  I loved the idea of jungle and animals.  Then I had another idea.  It came from school, some of the new teachers glued clothes pins to the wall to display the kids' work.  I debated back and forth what to do.  In the end this is what I decided.  I printed several copies of the animals at Costco - it is not expensive and I love the quality.  I then cut them out, wrote names on them and laminated them.  After that I hot glued them onto clothes pins.
Then I turned them over and glued magnets on the back.
As the kids arrive (or after nursery starts and things are settled) I put the magnet of each child who was there onto the bulletin board.  As we did our art activity I would clip it onto their magnet.  It didn't even matter if we had time to write their name on their paper as long as it went straight onto their clip.  When it was about time for church to end I moved the magnets to the outside of the door of the nursery.  When parents came to pick them up they would take anything on their child's clip (notes, handouts, artwork, etc) and their child.  It is nice, convenient, and saves a lot of time when multiple children are being picked up at once.

Some things to keep in mind:
I wrote first and last names on the first set of animals I made.  I think it helps if there is a substitute.  If you don't know the child's name, but know the family they belong to you can figure it out by reading the clips.  I was going take their picture and cut it out to put the picture over the face of the animal, but decided against it.  I also learned that some bishops won't let you use last names due to safety.  Just be safe and do what is best for your nursery.
 

1 comment:

  1. I just got called as a nursery leader and this is a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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