Colorful Bookends

Make your own set of colorful bookends!

Skill Level: Moderate

Time Needed: 1 hour

Age(s): 8 to 12

Appropriate For: Father's Day

Supplies Needed:

Project Rating:

Use a sturdy cardboard shoe box for this project. Remove the lid. You will use only the bottom box.
Cut away one of the long sides of the box.
Place the cut-away section toward you. Mark the center of the back of the box where the back panel meets the bottom panel. Draw a line toward you down the center of the bottom panel. Draw a line from the top left hand corner of the back panel to the center mark at the back of the box. Draw a line from the top right hand corner of the back panel to the center mark at the back of the box.
Cut along the lines you have drawn. You will have two equal pieces of the shoe box. These will be your bookends.
Paint the bookends. Let the paint dry completely. Or cover the book ends with construction paper, wrapping paper, or foam.
Decorate the bookends using Elmer's 3D Washable Paint Pens. Let the paint dry completely.
Trace the bottom of each bookend on a sheet of foam. Cut the foam and glue it to the bottom of each bookend. The foam will prevent the bookends from sliding when they are in use.

Teaching Tips:

Ask students to write book reports on their all-time favorite books. The book report should include facts about the book and should explain why it is the student's favorite. Encourage students to read their book reports to the rest of the class. Create a list of students' favorite books and hang it up for others to see under the heading "Our Favorite Picks."
Conduct a reading challenge in your classroom! Encourage students to log the number of pages they read in a week or month's time. Set a classroom goal, such as 1,000 pages read. Then, reward students for hitting certain milestones, such as 50 pages read, 100 pages read, etc. When your classroom reaches its goal, celebrate with a reading-themed party! Allow students to spend extra time silent reading books of their choice.
Have students calculate the number of pages the classroom read last month. Then, have students graph the results. Explain to students that there are different ways to graph the data collected. For example, the graph can be arranged by genres of the books read or by the number of pages.