Kids/Youth Designs

Kids in Towers

Crystal Card from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland and Labrador brings us this design from their yearly camp for the children of the province.

They wanted something memorable, engaging, and cost-effective. This set cost about $100.

They purchased 6 cans of paint, some staples for a staple gun, minor painting supplies (rollers and brushes), tissue paper, tape, and two flood lights.

First, they covered the back wall with borrowed black fabric to give a neutral backdrop for the set.

The buildings were made from donated corrugated cardboard appliance boxes. They opened them up, cut them into building shapes including windows (they found cheap, dollar-store steak knives the best for cutting). They primed them with white paint and added two coats of various colors. They added a little white to the base colors in separate containers and used that to sponge on windows and create some shading/dimension along the sides/edges of the buildings. Once dry, they taped various shades of tissue paper on the backs of most windows. This served to catch the light once they added backlighting.

They borrowed some scrap wood from construction in the area to create stands, with thin strips that went up the full height of the buildings. The buildings were then stapled to the supports with a staple gun.

They lit them from behind with flood lights on the floor and borrowed some christmas lights which they stapled and taped strategically around the back of the buildings to optimize the effect. They used some more stage lighting to gently light up the front of the set – making the most of the vivid colors.

The whole set took a day and a half to create and set up with 2-3 people.

Ninja Crosses In the Bayou

4 responses to “Kids in Towers”

  1. Melissa says:

    I love this set! Did a store donate the cardboard?

    • Crystal says:

      Yes, a furniture store in the area kept large appliance boxes for a few weeks and then dropped them off for us before we began working on the set.

  2. Gary says:

    What brand of paint did you use? We like these colors

  3. Candler Harris says:

    Did you have any problems with the paint causing the cardboard to warp??

    How did you get building to stand up?

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