The last lazy days of summer are drifting away, and soon the kids will be back in school. If you’ve made the very most of your summer together, you may have crafts and plants and baked goods all around the house. Sadly, it’s time to start putting those crafting supplies away, but not before you make these adorable back-to-school crafts to help your kids get ready for a new school year.

Crafts for Younger Kids

Flash Cards

Fun flash cards are a great craft to work on together, and your child can use them throughout the year. All you need is some good card stock, glue, stickers, and glitter.

Cut the card stock to a manageable size—something your child can easily hold. With the glue, draw out numbers or letters. Then, immediately cover the glue with your glitter. Dump the remaining glitter after the glue dries and help your child decorate the finished card with stickers.

This particular tutorial shows how to make the same cards using sand. Beach-themed stickers will remind your kids how much fun they had during summer vacation.

Backpack Tag

Want your child to stand out from the crowd? Instead of buying the same backpack tag as everyone else, make one together. You’ll need plastic luggage tags, some paper and stencils, glue, and lots of imagination. If you’re a scrapbooker, then you can also use some of your stamps and die cutters.

These directions will give you all the information you need. It’s very easy, which makes this craft perfect for working on with smaller children. Just cut the tag to size, use letter stickers or cut out letter stencils to spell your child’s name, and then enjoy decorating the tag with your child. You’ll have a tag your child is proud to carry.

Crafts for Older Children

Locker Magnets

Every child who has a locker wants to make that space his or her own. With the help of their own crafty locker magnets, they can.

Because you can buy strips of magnets from craft stores with self-adhesive backs, making a magnet is easier than ever. Gather up items that mean something to your child, such as photographs, bottle caps, postcards, and anything else light enough for a magnet to hold in place. You may need to laminate paper items to keep them pristine. For anything else, just peel and stick. If the items you’re making into a magnet are porous, the adhesive might not stick well. In these cases, simply break out the glue gun.

Decoupage Journal

Many high-school students must keep a journal for class. Those who don’t may want to keep a journal for their own thoughts and memories. You can help them create something special that they’ll always want to keep with them.

Start with magazine clippings of words and images that are special to your child. Glue these on in strategic places until the cover is no longer visible. You may need some extra work to make sure all the special phrases are easy to read.

When you’re done, cover the front of the journal with Mod Podge to seal the edges in place.

This tutorial will show you a simplified version, but you can get as wild and creative as you want.

Your kids will be ready to go back to school in style, all because of your craftiness.

That’s one of the many perks of rural living: time and space to get creative.

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