Cheap Arts & Craft supplies in the Vancouver BC area?
June 22, 2010 2:16 PM Subscribe
Looking for cheap/free art supplies, or suggestions on good camp crafts to do with kids on a budget.
Hello world, I'm starting a new job as the assistant director of a summer camp in BC, in a highly remote location. One of my plethora of jobs is to co-ordinate the arts & crafts program. I have a lot of ideas, but I'm on a tight budget.
The spin I'm trying to put on the whole thing is a return to simple living, pioneeresque, if you will. I'm trying to come up with crafts which the kids will enjoy, that are easy to make, and don't require expensive supplies.
Things I'm considering are:
Candle Making
Homemade Clay Sculpting
Homemade Paper
Soap Making
Crafts using stuff from nature (sticks, sap, leaves etc)
My big question is, does anyone have any suggestions for fun-but-cheap crafts, or does anyone have any suggestions where I could buy things like bulk wax or bulk sculpting clay in the Vancouver area on the cheap?
Thanks very much for any insights!
Hello world, I'm starting a new job as the assistant director of a summer camp in BC, in a highly remote location. One of my plethora of jobs is to co-ordinate the arts & crafts program. I have a lot of ideas, but I'm on a tight budget.
The spin I'm trying to put on the whole thing is a return to simple living, pioneeresque, if you will. I'm trying to come up with crafts which the kids will enjoy, that are easy to make, and don't require expensive supplies.
Things I'm considering are:
Candle Making
Homemade Clay Sculpting
Homemade Paper
Soap Making
Crafts using stuff from nature (sticks, sap, leaves etc)
My big question is, does anyone have any suggestions for fun-but-cheap crafts, or does anyone have any suggestions where I could buy things like bulk wax or bulk sculpting clay in the Vancouver area on the cheap?
Thanks very much for any insights!
God's eyes can be made with sticks you find, and any scraps of yarn or material the kids bring from home.
If you will have access to pocketknives, and if the kids are old/mature enough, you could do whittling. All you need are sticks.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 2:46 PM on June 22, 2010
If you will have access to pocketknives, and if the kids are old/mature enough, you could do whittling. All you need are sticks.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 2:46 PM on June 22, 2010
Crafts popular at my low-budget summer camp:
Embroidery floss - for friendship bracelets as well as straight up embroidery
Weaving (can be done w/natural materials)
Yarn/fabric dying, especially using natural dye
Knitting/crocheting
Batik (if you have candle wax and dye, you have batik)
Printing w/fruits and vegetables
Stamp art
Scrapbooking
Beading (make your own paper/wood beads if you want to be super pioneer)
Paper lanterns
Puppets
Body painting (both painting on bodies and painting with your body - like foot prints and hand prints)
Giant mural making
Macrame
Basket making
Salt dough sculpture
Crazy hat making
Mobiles (make out of branches w/natural items such as feathers dangling down)
Dreamcatchers
Flower/leaf pressing and flower pounding
Corn husk dolls
Bird houses
Sand candles
Sand casting
Sewing - small pillows, purses, pouches etc
In my experience, kids like "pioneer" type crafts, but one big challenge with nature crafts is that kids love nothing better than COLOR. They really are drawn to bright colors in their self-expression and do not seem to naturally gravitate to the brown-and-green palette.
We mail-ordered most art supplies, including clay and wax. See Dick Blick.
One of my best resources for finding decent crafts is Family Fun magazine.
Also, visit your local library children's room before you go and spend a couple hours with the craft books. There have been oodles of books on similar subjects, and the 70s books are especially high on nature crafts.
posted by Miko at 2:47 PM on June 22, 2010
Embroidery floss - for friendship bracelets as well as straight up embroidery
Weaving (can be done w/natural materials)
Yarn/fabric dying, especially using natural dye
Knitting/crocheting
Batik (if you have candle wax and dye, you have batik)
Printing w/fruits and vegetables
Stamp art
Scrapbooking
Beading (make your own paper/wood beads if you want to be super pioneer)
Paper lanterns
Puppets
Body painting (both painting on bodies and painting with your body - like foot prints and hand prints)
Giant mural making
Macrame
Basket making
Salt dough sculpture
Crazy hat making
Mobiles (make out of branches w/natural items such as feathers dangling down)
Dreamcatchers
Flower/leaf pressing and flower pounding
Corn husk dolls
Bird houses
Sand candles
Sand casting
Sewing - small pillows, purses, pouches etc
In my experience, kids like "pioneer" type crafts, but one big challenge with nature crafts is that kids love nothing better than COLOR. They really are drawn to bright colors in their self-expression and do not seem to naturally gravitate to the brown-and-green palette.
We mail-ordered most art supplies, including clay and wax. See Dick Blick.
One of my best resources for finding decent crafts is Family Fun magazine.
Also, visit your local library children's room before you go and spend a couple hours with the craft books. There have been oodles of books on similar subjects, and the 70s books are especially high on nature crafts.
posted by Miko at 2:47 PM on June 22, 2010
The things you want to make are not cheap. Clay is expensive, and if you are getting the air dry kind it's even more expensive. Soap making can be pricey too. If you make your own screens and what not for the paper making it can be cheap but it's labour intensive. Cheap suggestions are paper mache, collage, mobiles, wax resist paintings. Urban Source on Main Street in Vancouver has lots of cool stuff and the staff will have lots of suggestions.
I taught summer camp at an art gallery for 6 years, and did many things on the cheap. Feel free to memail.
posted by sadtomato at 2:48 PM on June 22, 2010
I taught summer camp at an art gallery for 6 years, and did many things on the cheap. Feel free to memail.
posted by sadtomato at 2:48 PM on June 22, 2010
How many kids do you have to work with and how old are they and what kind of tools/equipment do you already have on hand?
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 2:51 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 2:51 PM on June 22, 2010
About the clay - Look for a pottery/ceramic arts supply store. They may sell a clay called "Air-Dry." It usuall comes in 25lb bags for around $13.00. Standard Clay makes one named "#910 Self Hardening." There's also one called "Mexo-White" or "Mexo-Red." If you ask for it by name, they will probably know what you are talking about. It's non-toxic & water based. Kids can mold this however they like, and it dries rock hard in about 24 hours. It can then be painted with just about anything you have already - tempra, acrylics, spray paint. I've colored it wish Sharpie markers, enamels & a bunch of other things that I can't recall at the moment.
Here's a link that might help with locating a supplier:
http://www.potters.org/subject60628.htm
Some things that are fun to do with clay - make leaf impressions, or impressions with anything you find outside, like pine cones, etc...; use rubber stamps to stamp designs and letters into the surface; make "pinch pots;" roll out slabs with a rolling pin & form it around cylinders to make pencil holders. (I'd say vases, but I don't think this clay is water tight. But a dried flower arrangement might be nice!)
Have fun!!
posted by Alpenglow at 2:53 PM on June 22, 2010
Here's a link that might help with locating a supplier:
http://www.potters.org/subject60628.htm
Some things that are fun to do with clay - make leaf impressions, or impressions with anything you find outside, like pine cones, etc...; use rubber stamps to stamp designs and letters into the surface; make "pinch pots;" roll out slabs with a rolling pin & form it around cylinders to make pencil holders. (I'd say vases, but I don't think this clay is water tight. But a dried flower arrangement might be nice!)
Have fun!!
posted by Alpenglow at 2:53 PM on June 22, 2010
Go on a "bubble gum hike." (This is for bubble-gum-safe-aged kids. I've done it with seven year olds.) At the beginning of the hike, each kid gets a piece of bubble gum to chew. As you hike, kids pick up interesting sticks, rocks, leaves, flowers, berries, etc. When you get back, each kid gets a piece of cardstock or cardboard. Using bits of gum as adhesive, they stick the collected ephemera onto the board in an interesting sculptural shape. You can stop here with just interesting nature sculptures. Or, have an adult spray paint each one-- silver, gold, or bronze pant makes for the best "sculpture" look. Nearly free, fun, and a cool take home.
Make butter or ice cream in coffee cans.
If there are animal tracks around, take plaster casts of them.
posted by TrarNoir at 3:58 PM on June 22, 2010
Make butter or ice cream in coffee cans.
If there are animal tracks around, take plaster casts of them.
posted by TrarNoir at 3:58 PM on June 22, 2010
I buy random bulk of craft supplies at Oriental Trading Co. and keep 'em around for random "oh I have to entertain children" moments.
They're not as cheap -- or as wildly creative -- as free, but they keep kids happy busy. I love the colored sand in layers in bottles with googly eyes and a fuzzy bottle stopper myself.
posted by Gucky at 4:21 PM on June 22, 2010
They're not as cheap -- or as wildly creative -- as free, but they keep kids happy busy. I love the colored sand in layers in bottles with googly eyes and a fuzzy bottle stopper myself.
posted by Gucky at 4:21 PM on June 22, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for all the advice so far! I will definitely use some of these ideas.
I had another thought, does anyone know a place near Vancouver (or possibly in the caribou) where I would be able to get a decent amount of scrap pieces of leather cheap? Doing leathercraft at the camp would doubtlessly be a lot of fun.
posted by sarastro at 4:23 PM on June 22, 2010
I had another thought, does anyone know a place near Vancouver (or possibly in the caribou) where I would be able to get a decent amount of scrap pieces of leather cheap? Doing leathercraft at the camp would doubtlessly be a lot of fun.
posted by sarastro at 4:23 PM on June 22, 2010
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posted by Lisitasan at 2:35 PM on June 22, 2010