Picking out supplies is an exciting part of the back-to-school fun. What’s even more enticing: Adding a personal touch to ordinary supplies. These kid-approved crafts require minimal time and effort yet they pack a big punch, for the school year and beyond.

Sky Adventures

Craft Instructions:

Hot Air Balloon Pencil Holder

You Will Need:

• Blue composition notebook or folder
• Balloon template (found on ColoradoParent.com)
• Craft glue
• Felt (brown, white, pink, purple, blue, and yellow)
• Hot glue

Instructions:

1. Print and cut the template in half (one half should be the balloon, the second the square).
2. Trace the square (the basket) onto the brown felt and cut out.
3. Trace the balloon outline on the white felt and cut out.
4. Cut the four white stripes from the balloon template.
5. Place paper stripes on different colors of felt, trace, and cut out.
6. Glue the colored stripes onto the white felt balloon shape, arranged as they were on the original template. Let dry.
7. Glue the balloon shape and basket onto the cover of the notebook or folder, leaving about an inch-wide (or pencil-size) gap through the center for storing a pencil.

Pencil Case

Make reaching for a pen or pencil dreamy by customizing a fabric pencil pouch. For this design, find a beige or tan pouch and use Tulip® Fabric Paint Dauber in white. Dab three to four dots together on the pouch surface to make a cloud shape. Tweens will have fun experimenting with the decorations.

Balloon Crayons

Turn last year’s nubby crayon leftovers into cute new supplies. Collect crayon scraps and be sure all the wrappers are removed. Tip: To ease the removal of crayon wrappers, soak crayons in a jar of hot water for about ten minutes. Place the crayon pieces in the wells of a silicon mold, bake at 225° for 15 to 20 minutes, and let cool.

Busy Bees

Craft Instructions:

Upcycled Book Cover

You Will Need:

• Brown kraft paper or a paper bag
• Hardback textbook
• Pencil
• White and yellow craft paint
• Paint brush

Instructions:

1. Measure out a rectangular piece of brown paper slightly larger than the hardback textbook itself; there should be about two inches of excess paper at the top and bottom and about three inches on each side of the textbook when it is opened flat.
2. Place the book in the center of the rectangle and fold the top and bottom of the paper toward the book so the paper now matches the height of the textbook (make sure all grocery store logos are facing inward and will be hidden once the jacket is complete). Put the book aside and press the creases flat.
3. Lay the textbook back on the paper. Fold the side ends evenly over the book’s front and back covers and crease to create flaps. Slip the top flap onto the book’s front cover and the bottom flap onto the back cover.
4. To make daisies, trace your design with a pencil, use yellow paint for the center of the flower and white paint for the petals.

Bee Paper Clips

Students can keep important busy work together with these handmade honeybee paper clips. Use the bee template at ColoradoParent.com to trace and cut out the bee parts from felt. Glue them all together as pictured, and when they are dry, glue a paper clip to the back of the bee.

Ladybug and Leaf Erasers

You Will Need:

• Red, black, and green eraser clay
• Toothpick

Instructions:

1. Warm up the clay colors in your hands prior to shaping; this will make the clay easier to form into shapes.
2. To create the ladybug, roll red clay in a ball and make one side flat by pressing lightly onto a table.
3. Use black clay to make a smaller ball for the head, four small dots, and a line for the center of the ladybug’s back.
4. Place the black ball on one end of the red body, the line down the center, and the dots on each side of the line.
5. To make leaves, shape green clay into flat ovals and pinch at one end. Use a toothpick to draw “veins” in the leaves.
6. Bake the shapes following the package instructions.

Sweet Treats

Craft Instructions:

Melted Ice Cream Notebook

You Will Need:

• Composition notebook
• Brown, pink, yellow, and purple cardstock or craft paper
• Brown paint
• Paint brush
• Craft glue

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of brown paper to fit the size of the notebook cover. Glue it on with craft glue.
2. Use a paint brush and brown paint to add crisscrossing lines on the brown paper so that it looks like a cone.
3. While the paint dries, cut a strip of pink paper the width of the notebook cover.
4. Freehand-cut one end of the pink paper to look like melting ice cream.
5. Glue onto the top of the notebook.
6. With the other colors of paper, cut “sprinkles” and glue onto the pink “ice cream.”

Tip:

If the spine of your notebook does not match your decorations, cover with remaining brown craft paint.

Ice-Pop Bookmarks

To make homework just a little easier, kids can mark their spot with these sweet ice-pop bookmarks. Use the ice-pop template at ColoradoParent.com to trace and cut the shape from colorful felt, then glue it on the end of a clothespin.