Greetings !!
School Crafts

Caterpillar Book Mark

Another project for the kids.

You'll need:
Seven 1" round wood disks
Two small googly eyes
One craft stick or popcicle stick
One 1/4" pompom - you choose the color
One black chenille stem (about 4" long)
White glue
Paint brush
Acryllic paint - you choose two or more
colors for your caterpillar

How to make your book mark:
Choose one color for the body of your
caterpillar. Paint one side of the craft
stick with this color. Let it dry. Paint
the other side with the same color.

Paint both sides of the wood circles with
the same body color. Let them dry.

Glue the circles to the craft stick to make
a caterpillar. Overlap them slightly. They
do not have to be glued in a straight line-
make your caterpillar wiggly. Let dry.

Glue the googly eyes to the last circle.
Glue the pompom just under the eyes to make
a nose. Cut the chenille stem in half to
make two antanae. Glue the antanae to the
back of the top circle so that they stick
out from the top of the caterpillar's head.
Let dry.

Use other colors of paint to paint
decorations on your caterpillar. You can
paint spots, stripes, squares or any other
shapes you like. Use as many colors as you
like, but let each color dry before you
paint with the next one.

If you like, you can make your book mark
into a fridge magnet. Just glue a flat
piece of magnet to the back of the craft
stick and let it dry.

Decorated Notebooks

Instead of paying extra for notebooks that
have pictures and decorations on their
covers, you and the kids can save money
and decorate your own books ! You can buy
the lower priced spiral books with the
plain covers and make them beautiful !
This can be done with colored vinyl binders.

What you need:
Spiral notebook or vinyl looseleaf binders
Fabric paint
White craft glue
Glitter, stickers

What you do:
Using a pencil lightly sketch on the notebook
cover what you would like to include as your
decoration (s). Be creative- you can include
your name, the subject that the book will
include, pictures of a favorite pet etc...

Using the fabric paint trace and fill in the
various drawings on the cover(s) of the
notebooks. Glitter can be included as a fun
decoration. All you have to do is place white
craft glue in various shapes and then place
the glitter on top of it. Shake off excess
glitter. Wait until the glue-glitter dries
completely before touching it.

Have fun and include your favorite stickers on
the covers too !

Comments:
From: Carey
I love the idea of covering the notebook.
I would like to suggest covering one in
contact paper. They have a variety of
styles such as plaids and florals and not
quite as messy! Children's contact paper
is also available!

Pencil Tops

by Cindy Littlefield

Doing homework somehow seems like less of
a chore when you're using one of these
flashy pencil toppers.

For a dangly decoration, tape the center of
a 12-inch piece of embroidery floss to a
pencil just below the eraser. Wind the ends
of the floss around the pencil several times,
then tie them together. String beads, charms
or bells onto the trailing ends. Tie overhand
knots below the last beads to keep them from
slipping off.

To make a fringed pencil top, cut out a 6-
inch-wide felt circle with a 1/4-inch slit in
the center and slip it over the eraser. Then,
make a series of 2 1/2-inch cuts inward from
the edge of the circle. Or, for a stand-up
fringe, you can wrap and tape colored paper
around the pencil end and snip downward
through all the layers.

FALL APRONS

Purchase a white cotton carpenter's apron
for each child and fabric paints. Collect
a variety of leaves. Look for leaves that
are still pliable. Tape the stem to a
scrap piece of paper.

Let the child brush each leaf completely
with fabric paint that has been thinned
slightly. Un-tape the leaf and place
carefully, paint side down, on apron.
Cover with paper towel and press down
hard. Have children count to 5. Repeat
with several leaves. Write child's name
on apron. Use for Nature walk to collect
acorns, leaves, etc.