1-2-3 Come Fill A Pail Of Fun With Me

Double-Duty! Writing Prompts and Bulletin Boards

I love this time of year.  Standards have been taught, assessments are pretty much done, and I'm looking for some fun pre-summer things to plug in.  

Students are anxiously waiting for summer vacation so why not cash in on that enthusiasm and use it as a writing prompt?

I like to incorporate writing with a bit of art to turn these lessons into "craftivities". 

Students seem to enjoy them more, creating awesome results and I have an instant bulletin board or hallway decoration when things are starting to look a little sparce.

Make A Bucket List!

I'm happy to report I've achieved just about everything I've wanted to accomplish in a college notebook "bucket list" and that's a wonderful feeling.  I now have mini-bucket "to-do" lists on a daily basis which triggered this idea.

These colorful sand pail buckets make an adorable bulletin board or hallway display, or can simply be sent home with your students.  If you're homeschooling they are perfect for a summer scrapbook page.

Run off my masters on a variety of brightly colored construction paper and give students a choice of colors.  Make sure children choose a DIFFERENT color for their pail and shovel as it makes a nicer contrast and more colorful bulletin board.

Students CUT out their pails and write their name on the back of them.  Children also cut out their shovel and write their name on that as well.  If you want to make this even more of a keepsake, add their school picture to the shovel as well.  Cut two, 2-inch strips of complimentary-colored construction paper, and glue them together. Mine are 22 inches long.

Glue the ends to the back of the pail on either side, for a 3-D handle. I looped mine down so that it crossed over the written paper, and then I folded the right end down.

Have children brush on Elmer's school glue to the oval section of their pail and then sprinkle on play sand. Set the pails aside to dry.  You could also simply cut oval shapes using sandpaper.

While the pails are drying, students write their "bucket list" of all the things they want to do during the summer and then glue the list to the bottom of their sand pail.

Mount the pails on the bulletin board or wall with the shovels leaning against them.  Use light brown paper as a background so that it looks like a beach or big sandbox.

Two or three paper seagulls suspended from fish line, flying overhead, complete the picture.  The caption:  Our Summer Bucket List! You could expand this idea and have a "not fun" bucket list for another day of writing.

This would be a list of things students have to get done over the summer that they don't really want to do, like clean their rooms, do yard work, etc.  For these buckets and shovels they would pick colors they don't like. 

Click on the link to view/download Summer Fun Writing Prompts  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

"People don't notice when it's winter or summer when they are happy." -Anton Checkov

End Of The School Year Ideas:

Lots of visitors have been downloading the 36-page Graduation Activities and Ideas packet, so I wanted to up-date last year's bookmark project found there, to 2012, as well as provide the rest of the numbers so if you like this, you can update it each year.

Click on the link to view/download the 2012 preschool or kindergarten graduation bookmark.

Click on the link to view/download the Graduation Activities and Ideas packet.

Presenting fun certificates to everyone at the end of the year is a nice self-esteem builder.

There are 12 different kinds included in this packet, but I wanted to make it a separate download, as I’ve had several requests for this type of thing for other grades. 

They wouldn’t know they are here, because it’s a kindergarten graduation item.

For your convenience, here's the separate certificate file: Click on the link to view/download it.  End of the Year Certificates.

I hope you find these things helpful as you prepare for this exciting time!

Scroll down for the big article for today: Word Art Fun!