Shrink Plastic Backpack Charms

My daughter goes back to school this week, and while I’m a little sad about it I know she’s going to have a lot of fun seeing her friends and learning new things again. Whether your summer is almost over or you’ve still got a ways to go, there’s probably still time to decorate your kiddo’s backpacks with some shrink plastic backpack charms.

Artsy Fartsy Mama has a tutorial for doing this using a plastic takeout box as the plastic, but if you have shrink plastic sheets in your house of course you can use those, too.

Kids can draw their own designs (or I love this idea for using coloring pages to make charms from Jennifer Perkins), color them in and shrink them down in no time at all. Remember to seal them with Mod Podge or another sealant to make sure the colors stay where you want them when they’re done.

Check out the post on Artsy Fartsy Mama for all the details.

[Photo: Artsy Fartsy Mama.]

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Summer Activity Printables for Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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