At the beginning of the school year, I am always looking for easy and fun school themed activities for my students like this Simple Shape Pencil Craft. When creating this back-to-school craft, young children will not only review what triangles and rectangles are, but also work on developing their fine motor skills. I use this craft as a way to assess how my students follow directions too. Don’t forget to check out more of our back to school activities and resources!
Materials Needed For The Simple Shape Pencil Craft:
- Yellow construction paper
- Brown construction paper
- Black construction paper
- Pink construction paper
- Aluminum foil
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Glue
Getting The Simple Shape Pencil Craft Ready:
To prepare for the activity, draw and cut out a large rectangle, small rectangle, large triangle, and small triangle from card stock or other heavy paper for the students to use as templates if they are unable to cut out the shapes freehand.
Doing The Simple Shape Pencil Craft:
To begin this activity, children will use the templates to draw shapes onto their construction paper. They will trace the large rectangle onto the yellow construction paper for the painted wood part of the pencil.
They will then trace the large triangle on the brown construction paper for the wood part of the pencil and a small triangle on the black construction paper for the lead.
Next, the children will trace the small rectangle on the aluminum foil for the metal part of the pencil and another small rectangle on the pink construction paper for the eraser.
After tracing all of the shapes, the children will cut them all out. Your students may need hand-over-hand help cutting if they haven’t developed their fine motor skills or hand muscle strength yet.
Finally, the children will glue all of the pieces together. It may be easier for young children to glue all of the pieces onto another sheet of construction paper and then cut out the pencil after it is put together. During this step, I like to tell my students what to do but not show them, so I can see who can listen and follow directions.
This Simple Shape Pencil Craft is an easy and entertaining project for students to make at the beginning of the school year. They are adorable decorations for your bulletin board too!
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