Pencil Topper Craft

Is your child looking for a sweet gift for a friend's birthday, or a cool back to school accessory? Instead of buying something at the store, make this by hand! This colorful foam pencil topper glams up boring pencils and is sure to add personality to any pencil case. And the best part? It's a guaranteed one-of-a-kind accessory—no one else in the school will have one!

What You Need:

• Colored craft foam, cut into animal or person shapes with cookie cutters or a die-cut machine
• Glue
• Yarn, cut into 1 1⁄2” pieces
• Wiggly eyes
• Small buttons
• Small thin-tip markers
• Tempera paint and paint brush (optional)
• Pencils, unsharpened
• Paper, cut into 1” x 4” strips

What You Do:

1. Cut two 1/4" long horizontal slits in each foam shape.
2. Encourage your child to decorate the foam shapes with markers and add features by gluing yarn, wiggly eyes, and buttons on them or painting them on with tempera paint.
3. Slip a pencil into each foam shape by sliding it through the slits.
4. Write personal messages on thin slips of paper and tape them to the pencils.

You can vary the shapes to fit any occasion. Use turkey shapes for Thanksgiving, candy canes or snowmen for Christmas, or hearts for Valentine's Day.