Creative Crayon Welcome Wreath

Here is a great crayon project to try.  

We took a frozen pizza circular card board, cut it out spray painted it. Then we took two boxes of 24 crayons and glued them on with Elmers Glue.  The crayons can be organized by color or randomly placed. It's up to you!  The Welcome can be made or computer printed.

Crayola Crayons, 24-Count, Standard Size (Google Affiliate Ad)Binney & Smith Crayola Crayons - 24 Count - Crayons, Paints & Brushes (Google Affiliate Ad)

Learning/Writing Portfolios

Here is a writing portfolio I am turning into a learning portfolio for my preschool.  Each page is labeled with a  month.  The first day of each month they do a piece of writing without any help from me.  It gets glued into their learning portfolio to give to the parents at the end of the year to keep.  I usually put a pencil di-cut on the front with their picture in it, but this year I think I am going to go with their hand print on the front with their picture inside it....  The very last page I make a collage of pictures of the students throughout the year.  I have glued pictures of each student each month to go with their writing piece in past years or you could glue in a drawing or project on the other side each month.  It's really up to you. At this age, they change so much and it is fun to capture it! Anyone wants the labels already made I have them!!!

Cutting Grass

Moving here from AZ, I am not used to all the yard up keep.  LOTS and LOTS of grass that needs to be cut one or two times a week.  It is so different for me.  I enjoy it, but am still not used to it!  LOL There is always something to be cut or weeded! ADVENTURES!

Crayon Organizer

I made another crayon organizer for my classroom. This time I used an old wooden picture frame from Ikea.   I had a picture frame where the mirror in the middle had fallen out.  So I spray painted the frame white with spray paint from Wal-Mart $1.50.  I applied a clear gloss coat. Then I used small screws left over from when my brother built us a computer and screwed down my small tomato sauce cans.  I also spray painted my cans with a clear gloss coat.  Very fun project!

Now I can't decide which one I prefer.... a square or in a line..... What do you think?

Creative magazine file storage containers

I went to buy magazine file storage containers to organize my teaching curriculum books and realized how expensive they are.  I never paid attention before because at Ikea you can get 5 for $1.99.  Ikea is an hour and half away from Milwaukee so I had to hunt them down elsewhere.  Knowing that I have gotten them for so much less over the past 10 years, it forced me to be creative.  I took extra boxes I had, instead of recycling them, I REUSED them.  I cut them down like a magazine file storage container, then spray painted them the colors I wanted. The final product, was very sturdy but cute Magazine storage containers.

Refurbished 1970's School Table! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Our latest project was giving an 1970s school table a face lift. I went to Wal-Mart and got a basic black spray paint, then I opted to go for a hammered charcoal gray spray paint to give the table some texture and modern feel.

 The legs were silver so I covered them up with painters tape.  I liked the silver.  It looks great against the hammered spray paint I picked out.

 This is the table after I did my first coat with the black spray paint.  If I would have gotten enough of the glossy clear coat I would have just kept it a glossy black.

After 3-4 coats of spray paint and 2 coats of clear gloss finish... I got an amazingly modern table that looks great.  I couldn't wait to test out the seats I had just made for the students to sit on.  The table was 6 inches too high... so I borrow a manual metal saw (yes, a lot of work) and sawed off 6 inches to be just the right size. I filed them slightly to make sure no extra metal pieces were hanging on.  Then, I got help pulling out the bottom stops on the old legs (which was harder since they were square) and put some vegetable oil around them and slid them into the new shorten legs with a hammer.  You can't even tell I shorted the table legs.  It looks brand new! A modern work space any student, parent or teacher will enjoy!

Reusing old pieces and turning them into something functional is always the best way.  Sturdy and solid!
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Creative Storage for kids

Our latest craft was inspire by pinterest THANK YOU!

We created several different seats for students to sit on, with the ability to use it as storage underneath.  It is great for holding games or each seat can be used for a  cubby instead.

Materials used: imitation 1 inch plywood (can stand on, very sturdy), staple gun, ribbon, fabric of your choice and stuffing (can be anything- cut up egg crate cushion, old pillow stuffing, solid foam pieces from a package).

1) I got plywood (the guy told me that the imitation plywood is cheaper and just as sturdy for this project) from Lowes (a whole sheet cut to size cost $13.40) It makes 18 wooden squares to be covered.  If you don't need that many, the cost will be considerably less.  Since I have so many teacher friends- I thought I would pass them around- So I bought the whole board. :-)

2) The hardest part- the fabric choice- I got a soft fabric that I thought would go great with green crates and brown ribbon- which it did, but I didn't take into consideration that I had black tables.... so it didn't flow.  I went to several stores to find a fabric that fit my purpose of a preschool.  I finally found it at JOANN's fabric- with a coupon my $9.99 a yard fabric was half off- plus if you are a teacher you can get an additional 15% off.  So I bought 2 more yards of fabric ( I wanted to make 6 chairs in that print)

3) Make sure that your boards fit in your crate BEFORE you start creating the cushion.  I was so excited to start I made one and went to put it on the crate and it was off by 1/16 of an inch.... It was so close, but need to be filed down to fit.

4) I stapled one side first. then I laid my stuffing pieces down (I used large pieces of foam from when my bench was delivered) then I put a thin layer of stuffing on top to give it that pillow look after step 5.

5) I stapled down both sides pulling the fabric really tight.

6) I put a thin layer of stuffing on top to give it that pillow look, then I stapled up the end.  I put ribbon hooks on two sides so that when it sits in the crate you can easily pull it out to get to the items inside.  Especially for kids.

7) After playing with them I ended up taking an old curtain, cutting it up and stapling it on the pack to make it look finished.  When preschoolers are playing with them they are soft on all sides!