DIY Giant Pencil

These giant pencils make great decoration, gift holders, or simply a dressed up can of chips! No matter what they are for, my kids think they are pretty amazing, and loved to help make them too.

What you need:

• Pringles can (or the like), lid included
• 7” x 10” yellow construction paper
• 1.5” x 10” pink construction paper
• 1” x 10” black/grey construction paper
• 1 circle of cream construction paper, with 1 cut to the middle
• Hot glue gun + extra glue sticks
• 1 Black marker
• something fun to put inside!

HERE is a quick video of how I made these. 

Things to remember:

• Put the yellow paper at the top of the can, and the pink at the bottom of the can.
• The bigger the circle of cream paper, the taller the pencil point will be.
• Kids can help with coloring the “lead” at the point. More advanced kids can use the glue gun with your help.
• You can give these to your kids as a back-to-school treat OR make them for as Teacher Gifts, filled with goodies like gift cards, pencils, markers, etc!

ENJOY!!

Back-to-School preschool

• Back-to-School Treasure Hunt
        We love doing “treasure hunts” at our house. So for this back to preschool activity, I set up a treasure hunt, with sticky note clues and lots of back-to-school related books and items that she found along the way.

1. Sticky notes (are the easiest) or paper with clues – as simple as “look under your pillow” and/or draw a picture of a bed with a pillow.
2. Stick the clue to a book or back-to-school item and have them collect them along the way
   
• Tip: the first item my preschooler found was her backpack, so she could then fill it up with all the books and items as she went along.
3. After the hunt, get a snack and sit down to read all the books they found! (see the next few ideas for more activities to go along with some of the books)

• Practice writing their name
1. Read David Goes to School by David Shannon
   
• All throughout the book it uses the writing paper. Point out to your preschooler how the book uses the writing paper with the words. Have your preschool look for letters in their name on the pages.
• Practice using writing paper, write their name (draw solid or dotted letters for them to trace if they need help with their names).
  
  
  
2. Explore different ways to write their name
   We used:
• Pencil/Crayons/Markers/Colored Pencils
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Lettered Beads
• Stamp Letters
• ABC Stickers, Magnents, Stencils
• etc…

• Crayons in Rice sensory bin

1. With the crayons they used to write their name (or from their treasure hunt), bury them in a rice/bean/wheat bin for sensory fun.
• use Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Black, and Brown for a coloring project below.
2. As they dig up each crayon, have your preschooler use it to color the correct items and words on this page.

• Read If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff

1. Collect a few items from around the house that are talked about in the book.
   Ideas are:
• Lunchbox
• Notebook and pencils
• Backpack
• Science Experiment (pictured below is THIS one)
• Soap/paper towels
• Building blocks/legos
• Clay/playdoh
• Notebook paper
• Soccer ball/Basketball/Skateboard
• Snack
2. Read the book again, and as you read, have your preschooler find the item you are reading about in the book. Put in order of sequence.
3. Play “What’s Missing”
• Lay all the items you are using for this book out on the floor or table.
• Have your preschooler close their eyes and remove an object (hide it so they dont know what you took)
• Have them open their eyes and figure out what’s missing.
• Then give them a turn to pick and item and you guess what’s missing.

• Read Albert Starts School by Eleanor May

1. Talk about the days of the week, show them on a calendar
• The Dollar store sometimes has days of the week items, or something like these, or make your own, or just write it out!
2. With your preschooler, decide (or tell them) what specific things are planned for each day of the week, just like in the book with Albert and school.
• ie: Mondays is Library day, Tuesdays is Art, etc.
• Leave the schedule up where they will look every day so your preschooler can plan and anticipate what is happening each day of the week.

Back-to-School Preschool Activities - School Bus

It’s Back-to-School time! Before we start our Alphabet Preschool program, we started this year with a some back-to-school activities. Here are our School Bus projects.

• School Bus counting

1. I was inspired by a similar activity at Kidssoup.com. I upgraded to a homemade wooden puzzle version of their activity (see my School Bus DIY on Preschool Alphabet’s Instagram story highlight).
2. Go to Kidssoup.com to get their project, or find a clipart of a school bus and children. Add a spot where you can change the number.
3. For your preschooler, change the number on the bus and have them count out that many kids that go on the school bus. *My bus only goes up to 5, you can make yours to have more or less, depending.
   **My 2 year old loved putting together my wooden puzzle as well!

• If you want to make the DIY School Bus I made, you need:
• High Density MDF 1/4” (at Home Depot or  Lowes)
• A School Bus design (or draw your own like I did)
• A scroll saw and drill press (to make the holes to cut out the windows)
• paint – yellow, grey, black and white and paint brushes
• A little square of sticker vinyl
• Perler beads - for the puzzle piece handles

• School Bus Shapes
• Cut out the following shapes out of construction paper:
• 1 Big yellow rectangle
• 1 Small yellow rectangle
• White squares
• 1 Medium White rectangle
• 2 Black circles
• 1 Long skinny black rectangle

1. Tell your preschooler to find a certain shape and glue it on their paper. [ie: find the big yellow rectangle]
2. OR – they can put together the bus however they want, but have them tell you what shape and color they are gluing down.

• Sing “Wheels on the Bus” with the actions!
1. The wheels on the bus go Round and round
2. The babies on the bus say Waaah waah waah
3. The doors on the bus go Open and close
4. The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish
5. The driver on the bus says Move on back
6. The people on the bus go Up and down
7. The mommies on the bus say Shhh shhh shhh
8. The horn on the bus goes Beep beep beep
9. ETC!

• Draw a School Bus with Art For Kids Hub! (My kids love Art For Kids!)

-Kiley