Crafts Made from Books that Kids Can Make

April is School Library Month and National Librarian Day is celebrated on April 16, so I thought it would be fun to look at some crafts made with books and book pages. (Your librarian will want to suggest you only do this with damaged books, or old books from the thrift store, I’m sure.)

First, if you have whole books you want to craft with, you can make a cute monster out of a book with this tutorial from DIY N Crafts.

Or try this super cute hedgehog from Pink Stripey Socks. This one is a little smaller so kids might actually be willing to fold the pages long enough to finish it. But these kids of crafts are great for downtime or when you’re watching a movie at home.

This elephant from It’s All Kids Play is also done in a faster way that I think kids could make it through in order to finish it. You can also break the folding up into multiple sessions if you need to. And of course you can use this same idea to make all kinds of animals, so each child can decide what they want to make if you’re doing it with multiple kids or a classroom.

What if you’re working with a bunch of kids but don’t want to have to gather a bunch of books to craft with? There are plenty of crafts you can make with single book pages or a smaller quantity of pages than a whole book.

Book page bookmarks are super simple to make but also really cute. These instructions from Thrifty Fun use a gift tag as the template and to make the bookmark stronger, but you could make them different shapes and just use several layers of page or laminate them if you have a laminator to make them stronger.

These cute shape penguins from DIY Thought were actually made with newspaper, but you could use book pages as well and make different animals if you don’t want penguins (these could be bookmarks, too). And these folded paper stars are shown made with kraft paper, but the original inspiration, which you’ll see in the post at All Things Paper, was made out of book pages.

I also love these sweet pinwheels from Maya Smart made out of book pages, or your can make little paper bows out of book pages like these from Dukes and Duchesses. Turn the leftovers into a book page bunting like this one from Laura Radniecki to decorate the classroom and you’ll be all set for any book-related celebrations.

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year (because it celebrates the time period when several countries gained their independence) and it’s a great time to bring in some Hispanic inspired crafts and foods. For an overview on the celebration, the difference between Hispanic and Latino and the importance of the holiday, as well as a look at Latino art and famous Latinos and Latinas, check out this post and related information from the National Museum of the American Latino.

Spanish Playground has a great collection of craft ideas that you can do in Spanish class or with kids in any class or at home. It includes things like weaving, making mola (folk art from Panama; learn more at Kid World Citizen), doing an artist study of a Hispanic artist and more.

Crafty Chica has a great collection of crafts, coloring pages and printables for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with kids. I love this coloring page inspired by Amante bark painting, but there are also folk art stamps, corn husk dolls, tile painting ideas and more.

Papel picado is a classic folk art from Mexico that will feel familiar if you’ve ever made a paper snowflake. Learn how to make them from tissue paper with this video from Hispanic Society Museum and Library.

Learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month, get recipes and crafts from PBS Kids. I love this Peruvian siku flute, which can be made with old markers or paper straws.

While not exactly a craft, playing loteria (a Spanish language bingo game) is a fun thing to do with a group of kids. Free Kids Crafts has printable bingo cards with basic Spanish vocabulary and images for people who don’t already know these words.

And if you need a little snack when you’re done crafting, try these no bake mini tres leches cakes from Inspired by Family. They’re made with purchased pound cake so they’re pretty fast and easy.

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