This was a fun activity, but it was only possible because of things I was able to find really cheaply on the internet. The cost per girl with frame, hoop and supplies was about $5, and it would have been even higher had I not found bargains on both the frames and the hoops!
You could ask parents to provide the hoop, and that would cut out about half the cost if they were able to do so. I did not let the girls keep the hoops, but kept them for future activities.
Of course, this project did take three activity nights to complete so that $5 cost was more reasonable than if it were just for one night!
For this activity you will need:
- navy or black cross stitch fabric (white thread on traditional white fabric = NO)
- 4 inch cross stitch hoop for each girl
- needle and thread for each girl
- a frame for each girl
- a pattern for each girl
- scissors to share
=> I hate to have an unfinished project go home, as chances are A) it will not be completed, and B) and materials you might want back (like the hoop), will not be returned.
With that in mind, as part of our third night working on this I had a paper version the girls could complete, using sky blue card stock and white gel pens (and one gold gel pen to share!). They drew x's on the paper in the same pattern as the stitching, so they had an easily completed temple to put in their frame, even if their stitching wasn't completed.
This was nice as it gave everyone a finished project. Some of the girls were so far from completing the stitching that I think they were sad! The simple paper temple gave them a much needed positive boost, and I would recommend it if you have girls who are struggling.
So you could do a VERY simple, one night project with just the paper and gel pens, or you could do the actual cross stitching for a more challenging project.
We had a lesson on the temple, and a lesson on how to do cross stitch before we got started actually working on our temples, so really the activity time stitching was about 2 and 1/2 hours all together.
The linked file contains everything you need for this activity:
- Temple Lesson based on the Faith In God book
- Cross stitch lesson
- Cross stitch pattern
- Supply list
- Print out for the paper temple "cross stitch"
Temple Cross Stitch file:
