3 Kids Activity Projects for Back to School Using a Laminator

Can you guys believe that school has already started?!  My oldest kids are almost ready to start Kindergarten next year. Crazy right?!

With my girls being only 13.5 months a part, I can already tell the difference in their learning! Being the Tiger mom that I am, when one of my friends told me non-chalantly that she was starting her one year old on workbooks, I started thinking about what I was doing to reinforce my kids' learning in school. If I'm being truthful, there are days when I just let them have screen time. Like 3 straight hours of their favorite shows. Bad huh?

I have a new "Back to School" resolution that I'm going to be more proactive in helping them grow and develop their literacy. I will not be that mom who lets their kid sit for 3 hours straight watching a trolley and a tiger (Parents: you know what show I'm talking about. "Its okay to feel sad sometimes.")

Ryan and I have goals that are written on my side of the bathroom wall and one of them is for Aubrey to learn how to write her name this year and Ansley to learn her sight words. So, I'm introducing two awesome tutorials using a laminator that will hopefully let us hit those "Back to School" resolutions this year, as well as an additional one that will allow you to decorate your home with their artwork!

Sight Words Using Scotch™ Thermal Laminator and Post-it®

I absolutely love Ansley's teachers because they gave me a list of words she should be in the process of learning before Kindergarten!  I'll be laminating the sight words so we can use them to practice after school. What's great is that these Post-it® come in various fun colors, so I know Ansley will LOVE learning with these. 

For the tutorial, you'll need the sight words, a heat laminator,  a few 3 x 3 Post-it® in various colors, scissors OR a paper cutter.

First, write the words onto the Post-it®.

Next, open up the Scotch™ Thermal Pouches that were made for the laminator. Place the Post-it® so that the edge at the top is aligned. You should be able to fit at least 9 Post-it® on the pouch.

This laminator is soooo easy to use. Plug it in, select your size, and wait for the blue light.

Then, feed it into the laminator.

Next, use scissors or a paper cutter to cut the newly laminated Post-it® with the sight words. 

I guarantee your kids will LOVE them (at least for a day until they get bored). True story: My daughter loved that she figured out that she can now  spell "do-do" (e.g. sight word "do" and the real word "doo-doo"). 

Practice Writing Words Using a DIY Dry Erase Sheet

My three and four year old LOVE using markers. So much so, they got it on my new living room rug. Anyway, this is not a story about that (one day...one day). 

This is a story about how we can synergize their love of markers and learning how to write and spell their names and/or sight words!

Here's the tutorial:

I was able to do a web search on "Kindergarten Paper" and "Pre-school Paper". I used that in a graphic program (if you have Windows, an easy one to do is "Paint) and created the letters using this dotted school font. 

I then used the Scotch™ Thermal Laminator to laminate the sheet. Again, this was a BREEZE!

I gave the kids some dry erase markers and let them have at it!

They LOVED drawing and erasing. My oldest child has this perfectionist tendency where she gets super emotional if she accidentally draws outside of the line. The ability for her to ERASE and do it again makes me happy, as that's one less emotional break down for me!

Seriously, this lasted for about an hour. They LOVED doing this. Totally better than watching the tiger and trolley right?

So focused!!

Laminating Kids  Holiday School Art Projects

Have you guys seen my idea on using kids art projects to decorate the home? Well, this is an additional tip for that. 

When you get tired of swapping the holiday art back and forth, in and out of the frame and the glass, possibly cutting yourself with the glass, take me up on this tutorial.

Get rid of the glass and just use the the Scotch™ Self-Sealing Laminating Pouches to laminate the artwork!

You don't need to plug it in. All you need to do is set it inside the pouch. Carefully, remove the backing.

Cut it to size ...

And stick it inside the frame.

That was the tutorial. I mean, seriously. I should have thought of this sooner. Now, just need to find a bandage for the cut I just got from throwing away the glass ...

How do you use heat laminators for your projects?!

Other Back to School Posts

• Cold Lunch School Ideas
• Kids School Work Organization System (Binders and File Hangers)