Kids bummed about going back-to-school? How about jazzing up their supplies just a bit?
When I saw this first craft, my very first thought was, “I want one of these to put on my desk!” And no, I’m not kidding.
Tell me these aren’t the coolest things evar!
Have your kids turn a handful of office supplies into a busy fleet of cars and trucks.
Materials
* Various types of erasers
* Knife
* White glue
* Thumbtacks
* Cardboard
* Permanent markers
Instructions
1. Begin by cutting erasers with a knife (a parent’s job; kids can use scissors for this, but the cuts won’t be as straight).
2. Stack the erasers to make cars, trucks, and trailers. Pencil-cap erasers and automatic pencil eraser refills make good cargo. Use white glue to hold the pieces together.
3. To make tires, press thumbtacks into a piece of cardboard, color them with permanent markers, then remove the tacks and press them in place on the vehicles.
This tubular art tote will keep your child’s projects safe on those masterpiece-crumpling bus rides home.
Materials
* Cardboard mailing tube (found at office supply stores) with two end caps; our tube is about 25 inches long and 3 inches wide
* Duct tape
* Permanent markers
Instructions
1. Make the strap by unrolling about 40 inches of duct tape and laying it sticky-side-up on a table. Place a second strip of equal length on top of the first, with the sticky side down. Carefully press the two together.
2. Attach the strap to one end of the mailing tube with duct tape. Measure the strap so that it’ll fit comfortably across your child’s chest, then cut off the excess and attach this end to the tube with tape.
3.Tote-ally Cool Wrap tape around both of the tube’s ends a few times. Have your child decorate the tube with permanent markers.
Colorful Coverup Notebook
Here’s a fun and fuzzy way to dress up your plain notebook.
Materials
* Spiral-bound notebook
* Tacky glue
* Pipe cleaner
* Colored paper
Instructions
1. Spruce up a plain spiralbound notebook with bold stripes by using tacky glue to stick pipe cleaners (the extrawide, fuzzy type work especially well) onto the cover.
2. The Colorful Coverup Notebook – Step 2 Fold the pipe cleaner ends against the top and bottom edges of the inner cover, then conceal them with a glued-on sheet of colored paper.
(clever!)
When her son, Joel, was in first grade, Priscilla Johnson of Tigard, Oregon, quickly discovered that gentle reminders like “five more minutes” mean nothing to a child who doesn’t really understand the concept of time. So, she hung up this photocopy of her kitchen clock with the hands set to the time Joel had to leave for the bus next to the real clock to help him. Joel “is constantly comparing his ‘clock’ to our real clock, even telling me how much time we have left,” Priscilla told us. The result? “We make it out the door in record time,” she says.
Materials
* Kitchen clock
* Photocopy of kitchen clock
Instructions
1. Photocopy the face of a kitchen clock with its hands set to the exact moment your child needs to leave for the bus.
2. Mount the copy on a circular piece of construction paper, and hang it up next to the working clock.
Take the shirt off your back, and turn it into a bag you can wear — on your back! This project calls for an eyelet or grommet kit, which may require an adult’s help to use.
Materials
* T-shirt
* Sharp scissors
* Needle and thread
* Large safety pin
* Clothesline cord, about 6 times the width of the shirt
* 7/16-inch eyelet (or grommet) kit
Sometimes it’s hard to commit a phone number or locker combination to memory. Here are a couple of innovative ways your child can use letters or colors to record hers.
Materials
* Beading cord or hemp
* Lanyard hooks or key rings
* Assorted lettered or colored beads
Instructions
1. Tie a long piece of beading cord or hemp to a lanyard hook or key ring.
2. Write the telephone number or locker combination your child needs to remember on a piece of paper. Then have her choose one of the codes below and string on beads as described.
3. Tie a secure knot at the end of the strand and trim the ends.
4. For a phone number, follow the key (see below in Tips) to select the appropriate letter for each numeral, and use ornamental beads as spacers between the area code, exchange, and last 4 digits. The chain on the left shows part of a phone number with the numbers 31-665.
5. For a locker combination, use the letters to form double-digit numbers, if needed, stringing spacer beads between them.
6. Color Codes: To represent a locker combination with colored beads, use one hue to represent units of 10, another for units of 1, and a third as a spacer. For a phone number, simply string together the same color beads so they add up to the correct digit, where 4 green beads in a row equals the number 4 and so on.
7. You can even add letter beads to the end of the string as a reminder of what number is being coded. For example, MC could stand for Mom’s cell phone.
Tips:
Key: A-1; B-2; C-3; D-4; E-5; F-6; G-7; H-8; I-9; J-0
*Disclaimer: These crafts are from Family Fun. Family Fun did not compensate me in any way for this post. I’m simply a fan of Family Fun and thought I would pass these crafts on to you.
Write From Karen 