Yesterday, our craft room was covered in ribbon, flowers, glue guns and hair clips. Several teen girls spent the afternoon crafting special hair clips and fascinators. The resulting masterpieces will be given to the young girls living in a local homeless shelter.
Yes, we could probably have gone to a box retailer and found standard hair ornaments for less money and donated those. These however, were made with love and the little girls who will be wearing them were kept in mind.
The project allowed the teens to be creative and discover another unique way to use their talents for God. During our time together I was able to share with some of them other interesting ways people were serving those who lived at the shelter. It also gave me special bonding time with the girls as we poured over craft supplies with our coupons in hand or as I admired their results.
This is an easy project to re-create. For several weeks, I had been using my craft store coupons and watching for sales. I picked up several packs of plain hair clips in a couple of different styles. I also found a huge pack of hair elastic bands for next to nothing at a box retailer. The day of the project, I took one of the girls to pick out a few additional special request items at yet another craft store.
On my “craft” table (an old kitchen table with leaves in it), I placed glue guns, craft glue, the plain hair clips and bands and scraps from my supplies, plus the new items we had purchased. I have tons of ribbon on hand and we were able to find a lot of wedding flowers and things deeply discounted. They also used old buttons, lace, tulle, feathers, beads and more.
You can make this project as simple or as huge as you would like. So grab your coupons and some teen girls and get crafting. Help them discover their gifts and show them how to use them for God. Take them to the shelter (Group homes and children’s hospitals are also candidates for recipients. Call before you go though.) and allow them to deliver the results themselves. Encourage them to come up with a children’s Bible time they can share if the shelter allows it.
I would love to hear about your project. Feel free to share in a comment below or email me your pictures (tswinnett@gmail.com). What other creative ways have you found for teens to share their gifts with God? I would love to hear about those, too.