Back to School Crafts for Kids

BY JESS WEISCHEDELBack to School Crafts for Kids BY JESS WEISCHEDEL

First Day Magic Dust

Materials: Confetti, string, beads, pipe cleaners, pom poms, paper, and any other things you can create your own confetti mixture with. A container for your magic dust such as a Ziploc bag or a small jar. A printer, or a pen and paper to print the poem to go with it.

This is a simple way to calm your child’s nerves on the night before their first day of school. You can have your kids help with this project or do it yourself without them knowing, so they think it’s from a magical place.

Mix several materials of different textures, colors, etc., and put it into a Ziploc bag or a small jar. Write a poem to go with the magic dust, explaining what it will help your kids with prior to going to school the next day. Get them excited about it by telling them it will guard them against any bad experiences, and it will help them to make friends and have fun.

Pencil Advent Calendar

Materials: Construction or cardstock paper in yellow, pink, brown, and black, and your choice of a few more colors for the advent loops. Stapler, scissors, black marker, tin foil, and glue.

From yellow paper, cut a large rectangle for the main part of the pencil. Then, cut a small rectangle from pink paper (eraser), a large triangle from brown paper (point), and a smaller triangle from black paper (lead). Next, cut a smaller rectangle from tin foil (band). These should all line up with each other to create the various parts of your pencil. Glue the brown triangle to the end of the yellow rectangle, then glue the black triangle to the end of the brown triangle.

Now, glue the pink rectangle to the other end of the yellow rectangle, and glue the tin foil rectangle to set between the pink and the yellow paper. From different colors of construction paper, cut strips of the same width and length. Cut a slit into the middle bottom portion of your pencil, wide enough to slide one of the strips through. Loop the strip around and staple the ends together. Have your child continue this pattern with alternating colors, stapling each end and making loops for each day there is left until their first day of school. Use a black marker to write “Countdown to School” or something like it and display it for your kids to see each day.

Bookworm Pencil Holder

Supplies: Paper roll, paint, paint brush, construction paper, pipe cleaners, black marker, glue, and scissors.

Instructions: Paint your paper roll with the color of your choice and set aside to dry. Fold a piece of paper in whatever color you want the eyes to be in half, then cut a circle out of the paper, leaving a small section connected so when you open it, the two circles stay attached. In the center of each circle, draw a black pupil. Pick a pipe cleaner color, then make it into a figure 8. Cut another pipe cleaner in the same color in half, then attach those pieces to either side of the “8” (on the top and bottom). These will be your bookworm’s glasses. Cut out two small arms from construction paper, then cut out a rectangle and two smaller rectangles from colors of your choice. Put the smaller rectangles on top of the larger rectangle, then fold them all in half together. Unfold, then glue them together at the folds of the papers. Next, glue the arms you had cut out earlier to each side of the “book” you just made, making sure the side with the hands is what you glue to the paper. Then, glue on the eyes to your paper roll, and draw a mouth and nose underneath to form the face. Finally, glue the other ends of your arms (attached to the book) to each side of your paper roll. You now have an adorable little bookworm for decoration or for holding your favorite pencils or markers!

Homework Pencil Sign

Supplies: Markers, scissors, glue, popsicle sticks, and a pipe cleaner.

Instructions: Place six small popsicle sticks side by side. Taking three more sticks, cut them all in half, then cut one of those pieces in half again. Glue one of the halves on either side of the row of six sticks, which will hold them all in place once dry. Taking two more halves, glue their round ends together to create a point, then glue the open ends of those to one end of the assembled sticks. You now have the shape of a pencil. Taking the rest of the sticks that were cut down, fill the open space of the pencil and glue in place. Let this all dry completely. Turn your pencil around so the halved pieces are on the backside. Color the front of your pencil any color you’d like, using a marker. The point of the pencil should be black. Write “Doing Homework” on the colored portion of the pencil. Finally, glue or tape the ends of a pipe cleaner to the back of your pencil and it’s ready to hang on your child’s door when they study.