Back to School for Tots!

It’s that time of year again – back to school! What an exciting time for those that are returning to school or for those who will be attending for their first time! But for those kids that are still preschool aged, not getting to hop on the yellow bus with their friends, this time of year can be a little disheartening. We experienced this in our household this year. Our two boys attend a dayhome that is full of school-aged children during the summer months. This week, when school was up-and-running again, and my boys were faced with saying goodbye to their new friends, we noticed their faces looked as gloomy as the rainy weather.

To help blow their troubles away, with the added perk of educating them in all-things-school, we sat down together to do some back-to-school crafts! This really helped brighten their moods and learn a thing or two about what their friends were up to while they’re away!

Tissue Box School Bus

Every morning, my kids and I arrive at the dayhome at the same time the older kids are leaving to catch the bus. Sometimes, we even see the bus coming to get them. Longingly, my boys, especially my older four year old, watches the bus and gets excited when it stops to pick up his friends. Last weekend, we decided to make his own school bus with a tissue box, paint, and a picture of him and his brother. Here’s how:

1. Help your child paint a tissue box to look like a school bus using yellow, black, white, and red paint. The tissue box can be full or empty.
2. Cut out square-shaped pictures of your child(ren) and yourself. Glue them into the windows of the school bus.
3. Let your child(ren) play with the school bus and pretend to go to school!

Apple Stamps

Apple and paint crafts are a staple in all kindergarten classrooms; I even remember doing them when I was little! They are very easy to prep, do, and enjoy. My little ones had a blast! Here’s how:

1. Get a couple of apples and cut them in half from the top to the bottom, allowing the classic heart‑shaped apple look to be your guide. If you are lucky enough to have crab apples growing in your backyard, these are perfectly sized for little hands.
2. Use any kind of paper to be your canvas. Help your little ones paint the heart-shaped side of the apple and make apple prints on your paper! You can also jazz these up with sparkles or (what my boys preferred) using stamp pads to mix and match colours.

Popsicle Pencil Bookmark

Help your kids develop a love of reading big books with their very own bookmark! I explained to my kids that when I read big books, I use a bookmark to help me remember the last thing I read. This may inspire them to pick up big books and use their own special bookmark to keep their place! Here’s how:

1. Cut a piece of cardboard as thick as three popsicle sticks wide (wider or thinner also works!), making sure to leave a triangular shape at the top for the top of the pencil.
2. Help your little ones to glue the popsicle sticks into place on the cardboard and colour them yellow with a marker, pencil crayon, or paint. We also coloured them silver and pick at the bottom to make our pencil have an eraser.
3. Help your little one colour the top of the pencil, the triangular shape, white and then black on the tip. You’re done!
4. Help your little one mark his or her page in their book using their new bookmark!

Monster Pencil Cases

This final craft was one that really excited my children and also helped them develop superior fine-motor skills. It was so exciting because they got to use Mommy’s crochet yarn and boog googly eyes! They, with a little help, made their own pencil cases – in monster form! Here’s how:

1. Using one full sized piece of craft foam paper, fold it 4 ½ inches up from the bottom. Then fold the remaining top down. When folded, the top of the paper should reach approximately halfway down, giving the monster a mouth. The monster should now have the appearance of an envelope.
2. Mark out 15 dots along the edges of the envelope, not along the folded top, but along the folded bottom and back of the envelope. Do this to both edges.
3. With a child-safe plastic yarn needle and contrasting coloured yarn, help your child pierce the craft foam on the dots, sewing the sides of the envelope together. This should close the envelope sides and provide a pencil case structure. Tie off the yarn on each side.
4. Lastly, let your child draw teeth and put googly eyes on his or her monster pencil case! In our house, we even used sticky-backed Velcro to allow the pencil case to open and shut. It was a hit!

Summer is Over – But Back to School is Only Beginning!

Try out these school crafts with your little ones! Enjoy being the first to introduce them to bookmarks, pencil cases, apple art, and school buses! It won’t be long before they are bringing home school projects that they’ll be teaching you!