This versatile craft has infinite applications in the classroom! Use as a fun and practical first week craft. 

Do students need something to keep personal items in at their tables? These pouches are perfect for manipulatives, writing utensils, small book and notebooks and bookmarks! Hang them onver the back of chairs, tape to the edge of desks, or use tabletop purse hangers to keep them close to students.

Age: 5+

Duration: 15 minutes (plus drying time)

Learning Outcomes: Create a craft that carries! Exercise fine motor skills and promote self-organization.

You’ll Need:

• Two paper plates (the more heavy-duty the better for this activity)
• Cotton Balls
• Tempera Paint
• R15333 Botanical Cuts
• Yarn
• R5601 Plastic Lacing Needles
• White Glue
• Ribbon
• Hole Punch

Start by cutting ONE of your paper plates in half. Because each student only needs 1 1/2 paper plates, this is a good activity for buddies to do. They can split a paper plate between them.

 

Next, use a hole punch to make holes in the rim of the half paper plate, approximate 1″ apart. Use the hole punch to make corresponding holes in one half of the whole paper plate too. These will be used to stitch the two paper plates together.

Once your holes are punched, it’s time to decorate! We chose to paint our paper plates to resemble a sky and a green field, but you can choose any theme you like!

Once the paint is dry, use a plastic lacing needle and some fun yarn to stitch the half paper plate to the whole paper plate. This is an excellent opportunity to talk about fractions!

Next, pop out some of our colorful Botanical Cuts to decorate your grassy field with. You can add dimension to these flowers and leaves by gently folding or curling them or add details with markers. We also added some cotton balls to the blue “sky.”

The last step is to add you handle. Using your hole punch, cut two holes near the top of your whole paper plate. Then string some ribbon through and secure it with knots.

This is a great project to use at multiple times in the classroom! Some other ideas include:

• Use this as a first week of school project! Challenge students to decorate their pouches with their favorite things or a self portrait. Then the pouches can be used to store personal items, or they can be hung together on a classroom wall and used as a place to return assignments.
• Need Valentine’s Day mailboxes? These pouches are the perfect craft base to decorate with hearts and names and use to deliver classroom Valentines!
• Will there be secret Santa’s in your classroom this Christmas? Students can use these pouches to deliver small gifts to each other, or to friends and family outside of the classroom.

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