First Day of School Crayon Craft

It’s the first day of school, one of our favorite days of the year! With all the learning and exploring you know is coming in the year ahead, how can you help but get so excited! We love kicking off our first day of school with some awesome crafts and activities, get our favorite activity here.

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This First Day of School Craft is perfect for elementary aged kids – from preschoolers to fifth graders – and can be used by homeschooler moms or school teachers!

Make this first day of school craft every year to look back on how your child has grown through the years! This craft with help you to remember to take their picture on the first day (yes, some of us forget) and you will get to see how their answers change year after year.

Supplies Needed:

• construction paper
• First Day of School template (download below)
• photo of your child
• scissors
• glue stick
• ruler
• pencil
• markers

Markers work best on the dark construction paper but you can use crayons or colored pencils with lighter colors. You can also use the white school glue but it might smudge the ink on the questions paper so don’t use a lot.

If you don’t have a photo printer at home like us, we usually make our first day crafts, take our pictures, then go print them later in the day or the next day and glue them on last. However, last year I didn’t feel like waiting so I just printed a picture on regular computer paper and it worked fine.

How to Make a First Day of School Craft:

First, take your construction paper and fold it in half hot dog style. Using a ruler mark the middle point on the vertical edge with a pencil. Then mark a half an inch above and below the middle mark. You can just wing it but it drives me crazy if everything isn’t even. Then you’ll want to measure three inches out from the top and bottom corner. I drew a line to demonstrate where to cut but you can just cut it from dot to dot.

You can either cut out the crayon the night before then when it’s time to get crafty with the kids, let them trace it and cut it out themselves. Or you can just do the measurement (with them helping of course) and draw the lines for them to cut.

Use the scissors to round out the point of the crayon and the two back corners – you may want to do or help with this part since small kids are still learning to round the scissors while they cut. Then measure two half in wide columns at the front and the back of the crayon. Let the kids color them in with a black marker.

Glue the first day of school photo of your son or daughter to the right side of the crayon. If you can’t get the printed picture for a few days you can always come back and do that last, just be sure to leave enough room. Then write “First Day of …” followed by whatever grade level your child’s entering!

Finally, you can print out (available below) the first day questions template and cut on the dotted lines. Before you glue it in, check to make sure it fits. You might have to trim a little from the sides to make sure the computer paper doesn’t hang out of the construction paper. Once it fits, glue them on and wait for them to dry. After the glue has dried completely, your child can fill them out themselves if they are big enough or you can help write answers in for the little ones!

Directions:

1. Fold your piece of construction paper in half hot dog style.
2. With a ruler, mark the middle point on the vertical edge with a pencil. Then mark a half an inch above and below the middle mark.
3. Again using the ruler, measure three inches from the top and bottom corners on the horizontal edge and mark them with a pencil.
4. Cut from the top three inch mark to the top vertical edge mark. Then cut from the bottom three inch mark to the bottom vertical edge mark.
5. Then, make two columns half an inch wide at the front and back of the crayon, color them black with a marker.
6. Using scissors round out the crayon point and the back corners.
7. Glue the first day photo of your child to the right side of the crayon, on the inside of the black column.
8. Print out the “All About Me” questions template available below, to glue to the inside of the crayon.
9. Cut out the questions on the dotted lines and make sure it fits inside the crayon before gluing. If it is too long trim a little from each side.
10. Fill out the questions with your son or daughter, then do it again next year and see how their answers have changed!

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• David and Goliath Craft
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Did you make this First Day of School Craft? Share it on our Facebook page so we can see the beautiful job your kids or students did!