13 DIY Ideas for Back to School

It is hard to believe that the summer has gone by so fast!  Here are some fun last minute projects to help you be prepared to face the school year.

Pack a laugh in your child's lunch!  Print out these fun Lunch Bag Jokes here.

Homemade Chocolate Dipped Granola Bars are one of our favorites!  They are quick and easy to make and are ideal to pack into your kid's lunch box or make for an after school treat.

Do your kids take lunch money to school with them?  Follow this step-by-step tutorial to make these original and adorable Monster Money Pouches.

Being organized is essential to having a stress free school year.  Create your own Homework station with these Free Homework Station Printables!

Maybe your child is like mine, and they don't need a large backpack.   Make this fun  Backpack from a Pair of Pants for just the perfect child-size tote.

Everyone loves Dr. Seuss!!  Here is a fun printable and party theme "Going Places" Back to School Party.

Encourage your child to stay on the reading path by creating these Fun Photo Bookmarks.  They won't be able to resist these!

Go Everywhere Mini Messenger Bag is excellent for carrying all those little essentials without having to tote around something larger.  With it's long strap and small size, you'll even forget you're carrying it.

Want to end summer with a party and a bang?  Check out these Back to School Party printables.

Kids love treats.  These Irresistibly Healthy Oatmeal Cookies have lots of protein and fiber.  Plus the amount of sugar is about the same as a flavored yogurt.  They'll love finding these in their lunches.

Kids love to use the computer.  Why not take advantage of that and help them learn at the same time?  Here are 10 Great Educational Websites for Kids.

Stretch your creative potential and make one of these personalized Felt Bookmarks made from a stretchy headband.

Does your child use an iPad for school?  Here is an easy tutorial for The 50 Cent DIY iPad Stand.  It is very sturdy and it can be used with a case. Great for hands-free reading!

So there you have it!  I trust that your children have an awesome and blessed school year.

Free Printable Mason Jar Photos

Thank you so much for your great response to my laundry room reveal.  As you've requested, here are free downloads of the mason jar photo art that I used in the decor.  They are full resolution non-watermarked photos which you are welcome to download and print for your own use!  Enjoy!

 {DOWNLOAD HERE}

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Laundry Room Reveal

Each file is a full-resolution image for print as large as 11x14in.  Permission to use the photo is granted under the Creative Commons license.  Please keep in mind that these images are for private not-for-profit use only as the Ball trademark belongs to it's respective owner.


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Create a Summer-Fun Gallery with your Kids!

I'm so excited to announce a special summer series here at Redfly Creations that is just for kids!  Our series begins today and will take place on Fridays until the beginning of August.  There will be craft ideas, recipes and fun activities for you to do with your kiddos this summer.  They will all be tested by my kiddos first in order to make sure they're a hit.  :)  

So, today's activity is to create a wall filled with your summer memories that you add to each day.  Last year we had fun making and writing in a summer journal.  We did a pretty good job writing about the fun events we participated in.  This year,  I decided we would work on our art skills.  In order to do this, we came up with Summer Memory Gallery Wall using index cards!  Since our Homework Station Wall is not in use during the summer, we decided it would work just perfectly to showcase our Gallery.

The kiddos take a card and draw something that was fun for them each day.  In our case, we are having just one of three children draw a card each day.  Depending on your number of kids and wall space, you can switch it up however you want.  

We have fun looking at our Summer Gallery Wall.   We've already made some great memories!

Feel free to print this "Summer Fun- Kid's Edition" sign here and join us next Friday for the next fun activity!

Happy Summer!

Other fun activities in the series:

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Father's Day Coupons - Free Printable

Father's Day is almost upon us.  Mother's Day and Father's Day are such fun holidays.  I love being able to spend one whole day spoiling the special fathers in my life.  Especially since their other special day, their birthday, are occasions that they would rather not celebrate.  

Coupons have been all the rage at our house lately {I'm sure you've noticed!}.  So, in keeping with our "experiences" theme for the year, I decided to make some Father's Day coupons.

I have to admit, it was a little hard for the kiddos to think of experiences that their father would enjoy {specifically because of his disability} but we did come up with a few.  After we settled on the first few, the kids wanted to give even more.  So, we added a few special gifts that he can also cash in a coupon for whenever he wants.  

So here you go - download away!  There is a a blank coupon template so that you can add your own ideas.  Just know that the blanks are also in pdf formats.  So, if you would like to create your own gift ideas, you need to just drag the blank template into your word processor program and then type over it with a text box.

Happy Father's Day!!




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New to Redfly?  Many more great ideas to come!

Chalk Board Ruler Growth Chart - Tutorial

Growing up, I loved to visit my Grandpa and Grandma's house on a farm.  There was no end to the places we could explore.  We "built" a schoolhouse in the attic and a maze in the barn.  We would race through the basement to avoid the monsters, and walked "forever" through the fields.  There was also one other special place - the pantry.  No, not because of the food, but because of the measuring stick that was against the wall.  My cousins and I marked our height with our name as we grew through the years, eager to see who had grown the most.

Those memories from my grandmother's house came flooding back each time I saw the wooden growth chart rulers found everywhere on Pinterest.  So, I planned to make one of the beautifully varnished wooden charts for our house so that our children could enjoy those same fun memories I had as a child.  The problem was that I could not imagine marking up the beautiful wood.  So, we came up with an alternative.  A chalkboard growth chart!  Now we can keep track of the kid's growth without feeling like we were destroying the chart.

We started with a 1x10 board that was 6 feet long.  The wood cost about $10 and we already had a quart of black chalkboard paint left over from an earlier project.  The other items that made this growth chart a breeze to make were a square, a paint pen and printed-out numbers.  After painting with the chalkboard paint, I took the square and created the lines of the ruler with a pencil (easy!).  The lines were exactly 1" apart.  The 3 lengths of lines were each 1/2" longer than the other.  In other words, the foot line is 3 1/2" long.  The half foot {or 6"} is 3"long; and the 1/4 foot {or inches 3 and 9} were 2 1/2" long.  The 1/8 foot line {or inches 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11} is2" long.  After I drew the lines with a pencil I went over them again with the white paint pen.

Now for the numbers.  Each number measures just under 2" wide and under 2 1/2" tall.  If you would like to use these numbers you may download them to print here.  The trick for the numbers was to cut out the printed number and trace it onto the wood with a pencil.   The tracing caused a perfect indentation in the wood which made it easy to see for painting.  Now, take the paint pen and draw the outline of the number.  Finally, use a small paint brush and some acrylic paint to fill in the rest of each number.

There you have it!  At our house, the tradition of keeping track of growth has begun.  So far, Mommy and Daddy haven't shrunk {Whew!}, and the kiddos are growing like weeds.

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New to Redfly?  Many more great ideas to come!

Create your own Summer Reading Program with these Free Printables!

Ahh, summer break!  It's only 9 days away at our house!  One of our favorite things to do during our summer is read.  There is nothing like spending hours and hours in a hammock, a favorite tree or by the pool reading a good book.  

Last year the kids had so much fun joining our local library's summer reading program.  So much so that they read the required amount of books way too quickly.  So, to add a little more incentive to their reading, I created our own summer reading program.  The goal is to keep track of the number of books and the amount of time that they spend reading.  Whenever they complete two hours of reading time, they get to pick a coupon.

The awards the kids will earn with our summer reading program are experiences - and there are many to be had.  Since our Valentine's Day coupons were such a hit with the kiddos, we repeated many of the same experiences for their reading awards.  You may dowlnoad the sheet and the coupons below.  Included are some blank templates so that you can add your own rewards.

By the way, I have also put together a list of 15 books for each grade {1-6}.  Of course,  kids vary greatly in their reading abilities.  Some kids in the first grade may have already read some of the 4th grade books, and vice versa.  Please feel free to recommend your favorite children's books in the comments.  We all love to discover new books!  : )

Grade 1  

Amelia Bedelia books
Frog and Toad
Dr. Seuss
A Fly Went By
Little Bear
The Bravest Dog Ever- The True Story of Balto
Five Little Monkeys...Jumping on the Bed
Curious George books
Clifford books
Buzz Said the Bee
Fat Cat Sat on the Mat
Mouse and Owl
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed...
Are You My Mother?
Froggy Goes to School

Grade 2

Frog and Toad
Mouse Tails
Hill of Fire
Nate the Great series
Owl at Home
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Danny and the Dinosaur
The Gruff Brothers
The Little Red Hen
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Christmas in the Big Woods
Fox and His Friends
Flat Stanley
Little Bear
Morris and Boris at the Circus

Grade 3

Cara Frear
Jake Drake: Bully Buster
The Littles
The Viking Adventure
Third Grade Detectives
Tornado
Old Yeller
Little House on the Prairie- series
Judy Moody
A. Lincoln and Me
Comeback Kid
The Drinking Gourd
Box Car Children
American Girl History Mysteries


Grade 4

Encyclopedia Brown
Hardy Boys
Ginger Pye
Frindle
Geronimo Stilton
Grandma’s Attic- series
Ralph S. Mouse
The Toothpaste Millionaire
The Whipping Boy
Farmer Boy
Nancy Drew
Hank the Cowdog
Bobbsey Twins
Matilda
Big Nate

Grade 5

Left Behind Series
Marco Polo
Henry and Ribsy
Emily’s Runaway Imagination
Saddle Club books
Anne of Green Gables
Charlotte’s Web
Ramona
The Babysitters Club
Red Rock Mysteris
Sugar Creek Gang
Sisters in Time - Lydia the Patriot and others
Mandie- series
Mr. Poppers Penguins
The Secret Garden

Grade 6

Amos Fortune, Free Man

A Wrinkle in Time

A Long Way from Chicago
Bound for Oregon
The Call of the Wild
Indian Captive- The Story of Mary Jemison
Maniac Magee
Out of the Dust
Pollyanna
Trailblazers featuring Amy Carmichael
Golden Filly collection
Animal Rescue collection
Chronicles of Narnia
Pilgrims Progress
Flicka

Happy Summer Reading!

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There is still time to enter this great give-away!