Free
45 mins
Ages 5+
Upcycled desk tidy
Turn empty bottles and cardboard tubes into a pen pot for their desk. Handy for homework, and it's a great gift.
Crafts and slime
Tin can book ends
If their books are always in a heap with bent covers, a pair of homemade book ends will help. Fill two tins with sand or soil so they're nice and heavy, wrap them in paper they've decorated, and stand them at each end of the shelf.
Ages5+
Time45 mins
CostFree
MessSome mess
WhereIndoors
What you need
Only use tins with lids, not opened food cans, which have sharp edges. A grown-up can check the rims first.
Let's go
Fill each tin to the top with sand, soil or gravel so it's really heavy.
Put the lids on tightly and tape round and over them so they can't come off.
Wrap a piece of paper round each tin and cut it to fit, leaving a small overlap for taping.
Take the paper off and decorate it with bold patterns, zigzags, stripes or their name.
Wrap the decorated paper back round the tins and tape it in place.
Stand one at each end of a row of books.
Real talk
- With rectangular tins, decorate the paper to look like giant books, with titles down the spine.
- Make them match their bedroom, their football team or their favourite animal.
- Cover the finished paper with clear sticky-back plastic so it wipes clean.
Bookworms?
Libraries run free story times and reading challenges, and some big ones have whole floors just for kids.
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