Back to School Craft Ideas

Back to school time is coming up fast, and doing school-related crafts with kids can be a way to talk about the coming school year and help them get ready for it.

If you’re trying to build excitement around the new year (or have a kid who is already counting down the days on their own) this cute school bus countdown from A Little Pinch of Perfect is a nice one to make. If your child doesn’t ride the bus you could use a school house, an apple or another symbol of school instead of the bus.

If there is a school bus in your school routine, this paper plate bus craft from The Purple Yarn is super cute and easy to make. Make it while talking about what riding on the bus is like or reminding kids what the morning and afternoon routine looks like.

Speaking of paper plate crafts, you can also make a paper plate apple like this one from I Heart Crafty Things. I like this one because of the worm, which can move up and down in the plate and makes it a little interactive.

My favorite back to school themed crafts are those that feature pencils and crayons. Maybe because I have always loved supplies! Make a Popsicle stick pencil with this tutorial from Crafty Morning, or make Popsicle stick pencil bookmarks like these from Crafts by Amanda.

Made to be a Momma has cute crayon bookmarks, which would be sweet to make for a classroom. I also like her Popsicle colored pencils craft.

If you’re decorating a classroom or art area, you might want to grab this crayon template from The Best Ideas for Kids. They were made to be a writing prompt for The Day the Crayons Quit but they would be cute on a bulletin board, too.

Make a super cute pencil paper bag puppet with this printable from Simply Everyday Mom.

Older kids might like to make their own pencil case out of duct tape. This one from Frugal Coupon Living is super simple because it uses a zip-top plastic bag as the base.

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Several countries have a day set aside to honor and recognize their inventors, but Nov. 9 is a special one that’s known as Tag der Erfinder in German. It’s celebrated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and it falls on Nov. 9 because that’s the birthday of Hedy Lamarr.

Hedy Lamarr is widely known as an actress but there’s a lot more to her story. You can get a little of it geared to little kids in the Little People, Big Dreams book Hedy Lamarr (32 pages, hardcover, published 2023 by Frances Lincoln Childrens Books, suggested retail price $15.99).

The book explores her birth in Austria and how she spent time when she was young coming up with inventions. She became an actress, married an arms dealer, made her escape to America and became an actress again.

But she also helped develop a frequency-hopping signal device for airplanes that was used by the Americans and their allies during World War II. That technology became the basis for wireless technology such as wifi and GPS.

While Inventor’s Day is a great time to learn about Hedy Lamarr, you can take this opportunity to check out books and do little studies on lots of different inventors. If there’s an inventor or an invention your child is particularly interested in, that’s a great place to start. It’s fun to think about all the things we use every day that didn’t always exist; someone had to invent them!

For a start here at Craft Gossip you can learn more about Garrett Morgan, who invented traffic lights; Maria Oroso, who developed a clay oven that could cook food without electricity; and more female inventors and scientists.

And for more general inventors’ fun, check out this inventors word search from Fun Findery (and another from Let’s Do Puzzles) or take a quiz on inventors and their inventions from Flanders Family Home Life.

Have you read?

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