![]() It was so cute watching them pick out their favorite designs and decide which colors to use and where to place their fingerprints. Then they chose the fingerprint art for their blocks. They wrote their names on top of the pieces in pencil (I later traced over them with a Sharpie.). Step 4: This is the fun part! We went to school and had each student design 2 pieces. Our students chose from a space theme, vehicles, flowers, butterflies, birds, insects, and dinosaurs. Before you go to the class, create a couple of blocks with several designs completed so the students can pick their favorite designs. ![]() We found a lot of fun ideas on Pinterest. We were working with 4 and 5 year olds though, so we decided to have a bunch of designs from which they could choose. If we were to do this project again with older kids, we would probably just send a couple of blocks home with each student to paint the sides however they wanted to. It’s easy to paint the ends if you do it while they are stacked. A 1″ foam brush was ideal for painting the ends with clean lines. This isn’t necessary, but the other Room Parent and I thought it would look nice to have some color on the ends so we decided to paint the ends in vibrant versions of our school’s colors. I learned that the first set of stamps I purchased were too light to be seen on the stained wood. I learned that if the ends are not sanded properly that sap will start to come out of them. I learned that the original plan to paint the pieces did not look good. The pros at Home Depot cut that one piece into 9 game pieces for me, and I used those to try out different paints and stains. While the dads were cutting and sanding the class set, I went to Home Depot and bought a single 2×4. Trust me! Cutting, sanding, and staining the Jenga set is a big time commitment, so you want to go into decorating the set having your design finalized. Then I did a few extra coats of stain on the spots with ink on them and it covered them well. ![]() I used nail polish remover to take off some of the ink before staining them. It took about three hours to stain all the pieces well, but I did it when my son was in school and my daughter was at my mom’s house, so I was able to take my time and also clear some TV shows off of my DVR! One thing to note: most commercial wood is stamped, so about a third of the pieces had a stamp on them. With the crazy humidity in New Orleans, waterproofing the wood was a priority! To stain the pieces, I rolled some paper onto my kitchen table. If I did it again, I might have used another color stain, but I liked that this product would stain, seal, and waterproof the wood all in one step. I used Thompson’s WaterSeal Waterproofing stain in Acorn Brown. The dads who sanded ours did a great job rounding out the ends of each piece too so we don’t have any sharp corners. ![]() This is important because if the ends aren’t sanded down properly sap can start coming out of them. Step 1: Cut each 2×4 into (9) 10.5″ pieces so you have 54 pieces total. Things to bring with you to when working with the kids: stamps, post-its, pencils, and baby wipes.Clear acrylic spray for sealing the blocks (We used 4 cans of Tree House Studio Clear Acrylic Matte Coating.).Paint markers and sharpies for decorating (1 per color).Pigment stamps or acrylic paint for fingerprints (2 sets of stamps if you are working with another parent).Paint (We used exterior paint with primer, but outdoor acrylic paint would work just as well.).Sandpaper (our dads used a sanding machine).Here’s how the project came together: Supplies ![]() We crossed our fingers hoping that some other parents in our class would be handy with woodworking and, luckily, two of the class dads agreed to cut and sand ALL of the wooden pieces for us. Our first choice for the project was a giant jenga set decorated with the kids’ fingerprints. Earlier this year, I met with the other Room Parent for the class and we decided we wanted to something for the backyard. One of the responsibilities of the Room Parents is to create a class project to be auctioned off at the school’s big fundraising gala. I am one of the Room Parents for my son’s Pre-K class. ![]()
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