When I was at school we used to scribble graffiti on our pencil cases while the teacher, with their back turned, was busy writing on something called a blackboard.
That was a long time ago and nowadays decorating pencil cases is a more sophisticated business. Helping kids customise their school equipment makes a great classroom activity and is a fun thing to do at home at the weekend so that kids can look forward to showing off their handiwork on Monday morning.
To customise a wooden pencil case you will need the craft supplies; all of which are available at Baker Ross.
• A wooden pencil box – a pack of four costs £3.99
• A craft buttons value pack (£6.99)
• Silicone glue (a pack of two costs £3.99)
• Foam alphabet stickers (a pack of 600 costs £2.99)
• Acrylic Deco pens – a pack containing six colours costs £10.99
• Pearlised sparkle acrylic Deco pens – a pack containing six colours costs £10.99
All prices are true as of 3rd April 2012.
Once you’ve got all these items it’s time to get cracking. Oh, and by the way it’s a good idea to try decorating a pencil case yourself before letting kids loose with all the equipment.
Start this task by colouring the surface of the case. Kate (whose hands you can see in the photos) chose to use a turquoise sparkle deco pen to do this. She gave the pen a good shake before colouring and only stopped when no trace of wood was visible.
Next, turn the pencil case on its side and select a white Deco pen. Kate chose to draw a flower on her case – always a happy image to look at during lessons.
Your design is really beginning to take shape now and will look even better when you glue some buttons into the centre of the flowers on your case. Put the glue on the back of the button and hold it in the flower’s centre for a few seconds to make sure it takes root! Repeat this process so that all your flowers have buttons.
Wait for the glue to dry and turn the pencil case over so that you can see the sliding lid. I should have mentioned that it’s a good idea to empty the case of pens and pencils before you customise it!
You’re now ready to make sure that the whole world knows who this pencil case belongs to by putting your name in foam letters on the lid. Make sure that you glue the letters in places where they won’t impede the sliding mechanism.
Once the glue has dried your pencil case is ready for public display!
If your cases don’t look anything like the ones in the photos, then don’t panic; you can get extra help by looking at this tuition video.
Happy case making!
This is a guest post by James Christie, who writes for art and craft company Baker Ross.