I recently read an article about kids that arrive in class without a pencil to do their work. There are so many reasons why this happens and I just love the idea to give them a pencil. I created this Give Them a Pencil DIY jar with Sculpey’s Bake Shop clay. My thought is this. Maybe the teachers who fight against giving out pencils to kids who need them will be happier about it if they have them handy in a darling jar. I know that I am wearing my rose colored glasses but hey, I am totally okay with that. This post is sponsored by Sculpey but the project ideas and the opinions are my own. I extra love this project because it uses a recycled jar!
To create the project, you only need two supplies! You need Sculpey Bake Shop clay and a recycled jar.
Use a half a block of Bake Shop clay (brown) and roll into into a super long snake that will wrap around your jar three times. Wrap it around the jar, overlapping a bit, and press it flat.
Create an apple and a pencil with the Bake Shop clay, being sure that they have a flat side. Make them to scale so that they fit on your jar the way you want them. My apple measures 2 inches wide. My clay pencil is 3 inches tall.
Press the apple and the pencil against the wrapped snake to hold them in place. Bake entire jar with clay in the oven following the directions in the packaging. Once it totally cooled, add a light layer of Mod Podge if you want it to be shiny,
Okay, now let’s talk about this Give Them a Pencil! On Tolerance.Org there is an awesome article and it states “We all make mistakes. How teachers respond has everything to do with whether or not their students feel valued as human beings.” It goes on to talk about many of the reasons kids might not have a pencil when they get to class. This is one of my favorite quotes from the article, “Students learn best in a psychologically safe, mistake-friendly environment. We all make mistakes. How teachers respond has everything to do with whether or not their students feel valued as human beings. We are responsible for creating a psychologically safe classroom. In all possible situations, we should seek to uphold the dignity of the student. Even when disciplinary action is necessary, it should be handled in a dignified way.”
If you want to read the article, I suggest you hop over to it and let it all sink in! Here is the link to Give The Kid a Pencil.
So, I will leave this crafty DIY post with this thought. What if we all just shared and gave out the things kids need to be successful, every time to every kid.
Cheers to Crafty Decor, Pencils and Successful Learners,
Laura
Neat idea! I hear a lot of complaints about buying school supplies and having to buy for the entire classroom. Personally, I always had multiple writing implements with me, and usually was able to share a pencil if someone was in need. Hey, you can’t work without a pencil, but pencils find ways to disappear like those socks that somehow go missing. 🙂