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Class Projects for Fundraising Auction
I am asked many times for ideas for class projects for fundraising auctions.
My son's school is currently working on a few cool projects. The main one
is a beautiful antique set of drawers that was donated by one of the families.
The art teacher decided to make it even more special by covering it with glass
mosaics. The finished project is going to be magnificent; a show stopper
for any home.
This art project for the auction is something that has been worked on from
the beginning of the school year. In our school there are electives for
different art classes and one of them is the art projects for the spring
auction. So the students get to work on the auction projects all year
round. This gives plenty of time to make very special items.
Here are some pictures of items that were made as a class project for an
auction( the pictures courtesy of
cMarket auction services for non profits):
Childs chair and table set painted and singed by the children
Painted toy chest with imprints of the children's hands
Memory quilt made from children's pictures
Here are some cool stuff you can make out of tiles. Get each kid to paint
a tile and make some cool mosaics (these great pictures and ideas I got from
Mimosa Studios)
Mosaic Table
 
Mirrors
I researched the internet to find other cool ideas and here is a sample of
ideas that I found on the great
PTO Today
message forum:
Magic Carpet - Another class took a rectangle carpet square sample and the
class decorated it with "jewels" and sequins and paint. The kids took turns
being the star of the week and were able to sit on this magic carpet during
reading time, etc. They even took it home over the weekend to take care of it.
It was auctioned off at the end of the year - believe it or not - someone paid
$450 for that piece of carpet.
*
Wal-mart and IKEA sells plain white ceramic items that are already glazed: items
like flower pots, piggy banks, canisters, pitchers, etc. Any of these items
would make great personalized classroom
auction items. Have each child paint their
fingerprint on one and turn into flowers or bugs (for instance on the flower
pot).
*
Grade Decoupage Item (clock, tray) - crafty mum used mini photos of class
members and added a themed decoupage and decorative script - totally awesome!
doing again this year! $75 - $575
*
Bedside Tables - Creative Wood class (teacher parent), designed, cut, assembled
and stenciled their own creations - $375 - $700
*
patch-grade quilt - each class member designs a square for grade quilt, (can
pre-select fabrics, but adornments are individualized) teacher or parent needs
to assemble.
*
For the younger classes, personalized items are more popular. For example, one
year the kindergarten class got a white apron. They used different color paints,
and a teacher (or class mom) helped each child put their handprint on the apron.
The adult then wrote the child's name under the handprint. Believe it or not,
each year the aprons went for over $500.
*
Another nice item was a child's bookcase, painted white. The teacher/class mom
had each child put a thumbprint on it with different colored paint. Then the
mom/teacher wrote their name under it. When the paint was dry, the adult turned
each thumbprint into a different animal, for example, a butterfly, elephant,
etc. It was adorable and went for a few $100.
*
My all time favorite was a collection of drawings by a 3rd grade class. One of
the moms went into the classroom and had each child draw what they wanted to be
when they grew up on a piece of paper about 2"x2" or 3"x3" and write their name
on it as well. She then took each picture and had it matted and framed, with a
beautiful poem in the middle from a card or something (it wasn't just typed, it
was on cardstock and very pretty) about children growing up.
*
We always found that our art
projects were much more sought-after from the lower grades (K3, K4, K5, 1st,
2nd) than the upper grades 3rd-8th. Parents LOVE those projects that have
personal touches. One cute thing we did one year was a mirror. The chairman
bought it at Target, already painted white. We had the children dip their little
fingertips in paint and we'd use about 3 or 4 fingertip dots per child in the
shape of a caterpillar. We then got an artistic mom to add on to the
fingerprints things such as a bug face, bug feet, wings, etc. Then, we added a
sweet verse about children (we used Bible verses about children, too) onto the
mirror. It went for a few hundred dollars right off the bat.
*
Stepping stones are a good idea. One project my son's class did was a cookie
jar. It was unbelievable. The teacher purchased a plain white ceramic cookie
jar. She cut a sponge into a circle shape and painted on a light brown circle
onto the outside of the cookie jar. There was one circle for each child (the
circle was about 2 inches across - but can be smaller depending on the size of
the cookie jar and the number of kids). Once the circle dried...each child
dipped their pinky finger in dark brown painted and added chocolate chips to
their "cookie". After all that dried - the teacher wrote the child's name with a
black sharpie around their cookie. It was so cute. It made a ton of money. I
made one of these for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day one year with just my
two son's fingerprints. It holds cookies to this day.
*
Another complicated project we did one year was these concrete benches that had
ceramic tile tops. For example: the theme for 2nd grade might have been
sunflowers so each child was given some stones and they created their own
sunflower out of tile pieces. Then, all the tile pieces were put onto the top of
the benches and grout was applied. They were really cute, but allot of work.
Each grade had a different theme.
*
We have a k-4 school that does a class project every year for our fall tailgate
party....we have each class make a scarecrow. The class decides what theme to
dress their scarecrow in and the kids bring items from home pertaining to their
theme. We designate one afternoon to having all of the kids dressing their
scarecrows. We have had many interesting ones over the last few years....Elvis,
a chef, a clown...the kids get a kick out of them. Then we
auction them off by
selling tickets 10 for $1 at our tailgate party. We made about $150.00 this
year. We have the wood donated, and a few crafty volunteers paint faces on
plywood and assemble them before the dressing day. We also get some bales of hay
donated by our local farm to stand them in.
*
We have always offered school calendars. We have our
art teacher handle the individual classroom
art and each room
represents a new month starting with Sept. (new school year) and ending in Aug.
(the end of next school year - 2003-2004). Each month has a theme, the children
each take a turn at drawing a picture relating to the months theme, the picture
is centered in the middle of the page with a border around it, in the border the
children all write their names. As far as the dates we list all the primary
dates; PTO meetings, school conferences, closings etc. If there is a change we
forward a notice home to parents. We try to have the artwork completed prior to
the end of the school year so that we can get it to the printers. We have found
that it works best if we pre-order our calendars. There was a few years we got
stuck with many left-overs and we felt it wasn't worth having them. So now when
we send home info at the start of the school year about joining the PTO we
include the calendar order with PTO membership sign-ups. We charge a membership
fee ($6.00) & calendar fee ($4.00). Then we know exactly how many to order from
the printer plus an extra 20-25 to sell at open house. We tried magnet calendars
last year as a last resort (our school was in a re-org battle with the school
dept. - and the art
teacher didn't do the calendar pictures because of this) Magnets were nice but
not as popular.
*
When we had our auction
in the spring each class did a project that we auctioned off. They were our best
sellers. The kindergarten class did handprints and their names on white linen
placemats and a table runner. The first grade painted a child's rocker bought at
a flea market white and put their handprints and names on it. They also wrote a
story about the rocker as a class and wrote it by hand and illustrated it. Our
preschool class had a handy grandpa who makes wooden garden benches and they put
their handprints on them. The second grade put handprints on family sweatshirts
(Childs, M and XL). Other ideas included quilts, cookbooks, hand painted desks
and an granny square afghan with squares done by the students taught by a crafty
grandma.
*
Here are a couple of the fun ideas I have seen used for kindergarteners - The
teacher or aide asks each student a question like "how to cook a turkey" or "how
do you parents exercise"....let your imagination roll on these...some parents
will buy the books to keep others from reading...heh heh...
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Last years auction
at our school was a huge success. Large ceramic tiles were used. Each child
decorated one according to his/her class' theme. The tiles were fired and then
made into tables and used to decorate mirrors. Classes could be combined and
work together on one theme. We will be doing this again this year.
*
I really like the ideas of the open-ended question books. We are doing a
Dinosaur Daze theme for our carnival/auction this year and I was thinking for
older grades you could do "Which dinosaur is your parent most like and why." and
more simpler ones for younger grades like "what do dinosaurs eat" or "do you
like dinosaurs, why?"
These would be fairly easy to make, laminate, and bind. Great idea.
*
Last year all of our kinder classes did mosaic on the inside of birdbaths. Then
on the outside they did bugs with their thumb prints. CUTE! Everyone was bidding
on them.
*
One of the best items that I have ever seen at an
auction that was made by kids was a ceramic
piece. A piece of green ware was purchased from a local ceramic dealer (a
platter in this case.) The platter was prepared by an
art teacher (or parent) and then the
children in kindergarten placed a thumb print on the platter. It was glazed and
fired by the teacher - it was so perfect. It went for over $600.00
*
We purchased unfinished bookcases and child chairs that each class decorated in
art class. Each item
had a different theme based on what the teacher was working on with that grade,
i.e., Monet, Rainbow Fish, Abstract
Art. The items were also signed on the back
by the students. We displayed the items before the
auction so any parents who would not be
attending could send in a bid. Parents had a great time bidding on these items.
This year we hope to expend to other unfinished furniture such as toy chests,
mail boxes, flowers boxes.
*
Our top selling items at our
auction were hand-painted wooden toy boxes by the second graders.
They worked on them in art
class and each had a theme. Each child brought in a new item to fill the toy
boxes too.
Another school I know of painted large umbrellas, wooden bird houses, large
terra cotta pots and even vinyl shower curtains. All of those were top ticket
items for them.
*
Our school has hosted an auction
(silent & live) for the past 3 years. We also have had painted class projects -
chests, chairs, etc. Some other successful ideas have included: stepping stones,
pasta bowls painted by the children, a 20pc set of ever day dishes (4 place
settings) painted by the children, self portrait quilts, garden benches with
custom tiles painted by the children and a wooden picnic table that the children
autographed with a "sharpie" and the parents then took a wood-burning tool to
permanently engrave the autograph into the wood. This year we are having a
smaller auction
which will be school related items only (class projects, Headmaster for the Day,
reserved parking space) and giving the merchants a much needed and earned rest.
Would love to hear from other class project ideas.
*
We just made a Christmas Tree skirt with one of our kindergarten classes to
auction off and made
sure every child's name is on it. There are already parents competing for it and
the auction is a
week off.
*
A school in our district had the first grade make a simple quilt with bed sheets
and handprints, then they sat the kids on the quilt and took pictures of the
students. They auctioned off the quilt and then framed the pix (blown up to
poster size) and auction
it off also. Rumor has it that it was a triple digit
auction item. I wish I had thought of it
first!
*
A friendship quilt. This can be their names and birthdays. I've also seen a
state quilt. Maybe at our school? Anyhow a class made one of these during their
study of KY History. Or they can do a family tree quilt. It can be done, the
elementary school my son goes to have some hanging in the building that the kids
have done.
*
Stained Glass art- This is super easy. You can have the kids to draw their
design out on a piece of paper and tape it on the back of a pre cut piece of
plexi glass (any size you want) provide them with the paint and viola you have a
sun catcher. I forget what paint you have to use but I am sure someone can help
you with that. I made one at a math workshop and did a poinsettia (sp?). I
reflected on through my shades when they were pulled down. I also made origami
books at that workshop. Those were simple too. I do have the directions
somewhere around here for those.
*
Last year my class did a patchwork quilt using fleece and t-shirts. Each child's
picture was on a piece of the t-shirt fabric square (iron on transfer), then
each child wrote an acrostic with their name on another t-shirt square. These
were intermingled with the fleece squares, then a fleece fringe was sewn on the
edge. It sold for $3000. Materials cost around $75 - it was a time consuming
project.
*
My children attend a K-8 school. An 8th grade (or highest grade) project idea is
a memory book. Have each student create one 12x12 scrapbook page. All pages are
then slid into page protectors and put into a nice scrapbook binder. Many
students have attended the school since kindergarten and this is the parents
last chance for a final memento. Last year's book went for a 4-digit sum.
*
our 6th grade class made a black and white game table.
With a checker board painted in the center, a parent went in and took pictures
of all the kids 2 or 3 poses each including the teachers, printed them on paper
(B and W), 20 or 30 of each picture. The kids cut them out and decoupage the
table and chair seats with their pictures, It was such a hit and SO beautiful,
another class made a garden set, the Adirondack set I think, and painted it with
a bird theme, I think a bird form each state as that was part of the curriculum
at the time. Another class did a game trunk, painted or decoupage, can't
remember and filled it with family board games. Book shelves are fun, tiles
tables, I personally like end tables, with each kid painting a tile. One the
kids did self portraits and signed their names....
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