Growing up, my family attended Salem Baptist Church in Orland Park, IL. The building is still there but the church is under a different name now. In it's heyday, our church boasted of it's family programming. Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and Pioneer Clubs made Salem a popular place with the youth. My earliest memory of SBC was when I was 4. My grandparents started going to Salem before my parents did because we had not yet moved to Orland Park. One weekend my sister, Laura and I had slept over at my grandparents house and Sunday morning we all went to church. While Laura and I each held on to my grandpa's index fingers, he walked us down the green-carpeted hallway to the Beginners Class. Laura was too young for that class but because it was our first time there and she didn't want to be separated from me, the teachers let her join too. My grandpa gently hung up our little pink coats on the wooden pegs outside our class and told us he would be back to pick us up after the service. That memory is my most favorite of all my memories at Salem. I will never forget holding my Pepa's finger and looking way up at the face of that tall man as we walked down the hall. I am sure it was a sweet sight to see with two little girls in dresses quickly moving their little legs to keep up with my handsome grandpa.
The Beginners Class was a cheerful room with lots of activities, songs, games and smiling teachers. I also have one random memory of an older man who didn't have a thumb nail. I remember sitting on his lap during the story time and wondering if I should touch the thumb or not. I guess I didn't get a lot out of that Bible lesson. But I digress. There were quite a few kiddoes who trampled through that classroom and I would be willing to bet that those people have fond memories of a few or all of the following:
The fabulous felt board. I always loved it when I was able to put one of the Bible characters (or heck even the basket of fish and bread!) up on the felt board. It was like magic how they stayed up there!
Doris Bell's Barbie Shoes. One of our teachers was named Doris Bell and she dressed like a classy Dolly Parton. Every Sunday she wore peep-toe heels with no back so they moved like flip flops. I didn't even know they made shoes like that for anyone who wasn't manufactured at Mattel.
Eunice Utt's smile. Mrs. Utt was another one of our teachers. Every memory I have of her shows her wearing pearls and a long sleeved, lilac colored, belted dress, though I am sure her closet had more of a variety. She was always smiling. I am also fairly certain that she had a crush on my grandpa ever since that first day he dropped Laura and I off at Sunday School.
Mr. Berg's Bass Voice. One of the songs we sang was called 'Deep and Wide.' Mr. Berg was the dad of my friend Dale, who was also in the class with me. Mr. Berg sang 'Deep and Wide' the best because his voice was so low. I remember the first time I heard him sing I thought, how in the world does he get his voice to sound like that?! I am including this fantastic video of the song for those of you who are unfamiliar or for those of you who want to relive our Sunday School days.
The Cardboard Blocks. Man-oh-man. These blocks were the BEST and my most favorite thing to play with in the Beginners Class by a landslide. They were kept in a big cabinet with two large sliding doors which were usually locked. (I know because I loved those blocks so much, I always tried to open the doors to get them out.) The blocks had a red brick pattern on them and each block was about the size of a small shoe box.
Those cardboard blocks have always stuck with me. I thought it would be great for Zachary to have memories of building towers with such great blocks. Unfortunately, the mark up for sweet children's toys is crazy, so I decided to make my own and document it so you can make them too!
First you'll need a bunch of boxes and the sturdier your box, the longer it will last. I had quite a few boxes of diapers from when Zachary was a newborn and didn't yet fit into his cloth diapers. We also buy our baby wipes a CostCo where you can get seven huge bags of wipes in one giant box so we had a lot of those empty boxes. Then, you'll need scissors, tape, Con-Tact paper and some kind of wrapping paper so that your kids aren't really playing with empty diaper boxes. I went to Michael's and found bulletin board paper that looked like bricks. They had other selections too, but I wanted the brick pattern for nostalgia purposes.
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| Size 1 and 2 Diapers! I can't believe Z's tush fit in those! |
Take a box and lay it out on top of your paper, like you are going to wrap it as a present, but you aren't going to cut the amount of paper that you normally would to wrap a present. I didn't want the sides to have folded angles because it would make the box look more like a present and less like a brick. Pull the paper so there is about two inches on each side of the box then cut the paper from the roll. Fold the paper around the box and tape down. There should be about two inches of excess paper one the two faces of the box that are not completely covered by paper. Fold in the corners on the sides of the box and tape down. You should have four sides that are completely covered in paper and two sides that are not. The next step will cover everything. Unroll your tube of paper and put box on top like you did in the beginning as though you were going to wrap it, but this time, put the unfinished part length-wise. Leave about two inches in each side of the box and cut the paper from the roll.
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| The unfinished part is length-wise to the paper. |
Fold down each side so that the paper that you just cut is now the exact width of the length of the box. Tape down one side of the paper and then continue to wrap your box around the paper. As you are wrapping, you may find that you need to refold the paper to make sure that it doesn't stick out past your box.
When you are ready to complete wrapping your box, make three tape rolls and put them on the wrong side of the paper and press the paper down onto the box. This way you won't be able to see tape. It is okay it if doesn't lay perfectly flat; the next step is to put Con-Tact paper over the box which will flatten everything out and make a nice finished look.
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| The tape rolls (not on the wrong side of the paper, but this way you can see them.) |
Roll out your Con-Tact paper in the same way you rolled out your bulletin board paper. Hopefully the width of the Con-Tact paper is larger than your box otherwise you will have to repeat this step twice by overlapping the Con-Tact paper. While the wax paper is still on the Con-Tact paper make sure that it will completely cover the four sides of your box and then cut it from the roll. Slowly peel the wax paper off of the adhesive part. Honestly, this part is the biggest pain. The first box I covered in Con-Tact paper was my downfall. I pulled the paper too quickly and ripped the paper in a ton of parts which meant then that I had to scrape off little bits of wax paper. Ugh! So learn from my hastiness; go slowly. The next trick I figured out was that it was easier to pull the wax paper off if there was a little weight on the end of the adhesive part. Since using my arm meant peeling it off later, I would put the box down and then hold onto the box as I peeled the rest of the wax paper off. Then slowly roll your box down the Con-Tact paper until all four sides are covered.
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| Torture yourself long enough to have enough space to put the box down. |
"But rectangular prisms have six sides, not four!" Yes, you are right, my little geometry experts! So let's take care of the remaining two naked sides. After you have rolled the Con-Tact paper around your box, you will have left over parts on the edges. Cut a triangle in each of the corners and then fold down the tabs.
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| Triangle cut into the corners. |
Next you will cut out a piece of Con-Tact paper that it will cover the remaining exposed paper. You can make this a little smaller than the surface area of the two remaining sides because you already folded over some of the Con-Tact paper in the previous step. You will find that peeling the wax paper off of these small pieces of Con-Tact paper is SOOOO much easier than the large sheet you did previously. I found that the easiest way to make sure that you put the Con-Tact on without any air bubbles was to press down the top part of the adhesive to the box and then pull the paper down to make sure it is straight.
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| Bam! My DIY blocks rock! |
