After a summer full of adventures, kids can be reluctant to shake off the sand and dive back into learning. So we’re building the excitement of a fresh school year through fun craft projects the kids will adore!

Instead of a dreaded daily countdown to the first day of the school year, we’re unleashing the kids’ creativity and helping them get organised so they’re sprinting towards their next school adventure.

So set aside some crafty afternoons crafternoons, gather your supplies from our friends at Sharpie (we have some great suggestions!) and buckle up for the smoothest transition back to school ever. Here are five crafty ways to get kids excited about returning to school

Create A Back To School Sign

Shake those new-year-new-grade nerves by getting the kids to create their own First Day signs. These signs help capture a moment in time, snapped in a photo on their first day back. The added bonus for us mums is that we’ll look back on these photos for years to come – they’re great memory keepers!

What you need:

• Thick, white cardboard
• Sharpie Permanent Markers (these are perfect for this project because the vivid colours come up brilliantly in photos, and they’re quick drying!)
• Stickers, glitter or any other decorations

Often after a long period without the usual in-class craft and creative time, kids will be at a loss when it comes to drawing a picture, so a structured activity like this is ideal to help get their creative juices flowing. Encourage them to add whatever details they like by having a brainstorm, but here are some prompt ideas:

• Their name, followed by First Day Of Grade ___
• The year
• I’m ___ years old
• My favourite colour is ___
• When I grow up I want to be ___
• My teacher is ___
• My best friend is ___

Once they know what they want to include, get the kids to plan out their sign before letting them loose with their Sharpies!

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Create A List Of School Goals

We love this activity, because we can join in with the kids as well, by creating our own goals for the coming year.

This is such a great way to help kids realise that school is about so much more than grades. Also keep in mind that these will vary depending on what grade or year level your child is in. Prep or foundation students may just want to have fun, learn to read and write and make new friends. While senior students may have more defined goals about specific classes.

To help the kids hone in on their goals, here are some prompts:

Primary School

• What’s the main thing you want to improve this year?
• What subjects do you want to focus on the most?
• What specific skills would you like to develop?
• How can you be more organised at home and school?
• What’s something you really want to learn this year?
• What’s a positive habit you want to start?
• What do you want to work on with your friendships at school?
• How can you be more inclusive at school?
• Is there a new activity you want to try this year?
• How can you stay healthy during the school year?
• Do you want to try some new things in your lunch box?
• How can we celebrate reaching your goals?

Secondary School

• What are the three main things you want to achieve at school this year?
• What subject do you need to make more of an effort with?
• How are you going to be more organised at home and school?
• How can we celebrate reaching your goals?
• How can you best manage your time between school, work and activities?
• What ways do you want to support your growth in your favourite subjects?
• How can you be healthier this year?
• What specific goals do you have for each subject?

This is a great activity to do with the kids and set your own goals for the year as well – this can be with work, home or personal growth.

And because this activity should be something exciting, rather than a chore, we love the idea of grabbing some S-Gel Pens, Clearview Highlighers and Sharpie Markers to make the task much more colourful!

In particular, the S-Gel Pens are fabulous for writing activities because they are glorious to write with! Smooth and delicious. Yes, a pen can totally feel delicious! You know when you just find your go-to pen and you won’t let anyone else borrow it – that’s an S-Gel Pen! They won’t smear or bleed, so the kids won’t smudge their beautiful school goals list – and the ink will stay looking sharp and clear all year long as they tick off their goals.

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Make A Decorative Name Sign

This is a brilliant activity for little school starters who are just learning to write their names.

What you need:

• Thick piece of card, cut into a rectangle
• Sharpie Permanent Markers
• Clearview Highlighters
• Contact or laminate

Cut a thick piece of white card that’s long enough to fit your child’s name, but small enough that it can fit on their school tub, locker or desk. Get them to write their name (or you can do it for them) and then they can decorate the sign themselves.

Pull out the Sharpie Markers and Clearview Highlighters for some bright, colourful fun with name art, and when they’re finish their moniker masterpiece, either contact or laminate the name sign ready for the first day of school!

FYI: The Clearview Highlighters are perfect for kids who are learning to write, as they have the same fabulous bright colours of highlighters, but the kids can actually see what they’re doing thanks to the unique design! The genius see-through tip lets kids clearly see what they’re doing and where the ultra-fluorescent ink is actually going. They’re a game-changer!

They’re also amazing for older kids who need to highlight text – no more guesswork! And the blade-style tips lets kids switch from narrow to wide lines easily. Winning!

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Book Labelling Craft

Kids love putting their name on anything and everything, so harness this creativity (and get rid of a task on your list) by getting them to name and decorate their school notebooks and binders.

The outside of a binder can easily be personalised using Sharpie Markers, as can school notebooks. They’ll never get their books mixed up with their friends if they unleash their artistic side on their books!

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School Memory Scrapbook

Kids don’t realise that their school years will be some of the best of their lives, and one of the most creative ways to capture all of those milestone moments.

The kids can start their own school scrapbook, decorating pages with stickers and cutouts, and dedicating pages to different milestones throughout the year. Throughout the year, print out relevant photos, and save special work, art and assignments from school to add to the scrapbook.

Here are some easy prompts for them to use when decorating their scrapbook:

• First day of school page
• 100th day of school page
• Book Week
• Athletics and swimming carnival days
• Easter parade
• Excursions

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Make Back To School, Back To Fun!

We’re all about making the back to school run fun – and with Sharpie, it’s so easy to get back into the swing of school without the stress. When you’re stocking up for your crafty back to school activities, keep an eye out for our favourites from the range!

S-Gel Pens help the kids unleash their creativity with smooth, bold writing that stands out from the crowd. The clear blade-style tip of Clearview Highlighters give kids the freedom to switch from wide and narrow lines, with ultra-fluorescent ink that doesn’t smudge. And the iconic Sharpie Markers are the original and the best for a reason – no house should be without its Sharpies! With quick-drying ink that’s bright and bold, you and the kids will find a million uses for them throughout the school year.

So enjoy the lead-up to the first day back at school, and make it even more exciting by getting crafty with Sharpie!

Mouths of Mums is proudly working with Sharpie to bring you this article. 

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