Sunday, March 13, 2011

Bookmarks



Something else for National Reading Month!


Recently, the most requested art in our home has been bookmarks. Emily started it by drawing a whole series of bookmarks for her sisters to color. Since then, Kate will ask me to draw bookmarks on a daily basis. She will then spend a long time coloring them, after which I will be required to "iron them", which is her way of saying "laminate". Jenna, upon seeing what Kate is coloring, will immediately want the same thing, the result of which is that I am always sketching multiples. Time to scan and save, so we can print hundreds, was what I thought.


Today, since I was sick and sort of forced to sit down, I parked myself at the coffee table and drew a few different sets. The kids came to see what I was doing since they are always suspicious that I am up to secret crafts. Not happy just to provide input, they hijacked my markers and paper and made their own sets.




Here's a treat for you: we saved twenty of our best pages in a file that you can download and print out for many happy hours of coloring. Lots of different themes: homes, medieval, monsters, fairies, tea party, clothes:








The girls drew jewelry, shoes, hats and family:







For some reason, the striped body of the bookmarks became a sort of mandatory feature. Jenna likes to turn them into rainbows. When your kids are done coloring, you can laminate them so they are extra sturdy.


For an added activity, let your kids draw their own sets based on themes they pick. You'll be surprised at how well they can already categorize items they see all the time around them. 



11 comments:

  1. oh LiEr. These are FAB. My girl will adore coloring these and drat it, I'm going to have to figure out contact paper or ironing - what are you doing when you laminate? I used to laminate at school with the big expensive machine which alas I have no relationship with anymore. Nor the paper cutter either. If it wasn't so scary, I'd get my own paper cutter; instead I use my church key to use theirs.

    Hope you get better soon, even though I can't believe how productive you are, even sick :)

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  2. Ah Margo, we caved last Christmas and actually bought a laminating machine. They're not that expensive ($20+) and don't take up as much space as I'd feared. Since we bought ours, I've already broken it once (sent back to the agent and repaired) and used it so often that I've wondered how I survived without it. Apart from bookmarks and fake IDs for play, we've also laminated all the play money (the notes) so they don't get grubby and floppy. Contact paper would work well, too, except it won't be stiff. Otherwise, you can just print these out directly onto cardstock and then contact-paper the individual bookmarks.

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  3. This is a fabulous idea. I love how you make them in themes. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. These are so fun! I'm sick too, so maybe I'll just print these off for my kiddos to color this afternoon. What's up with evil sicknesses this year?

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  5. Fun! I love those monsters. I think my little monsters will really enjoy coloring those. Thanks for sharing such a fun and family friendly idea!!!

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  6. Oh LiEr, these bookmarks are awesome. You draw so well, and my kids are currently colouring like mad on my dining table!! Thanks HEAPS for sharing.

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  7. Those are super fun! I love the way they look all grouped together. Thanks so much, I'll be linking.

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  8. Thanks very much for the free printable Lier. Be a great idea for school friend's Christmas or Easter presents.

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  9. LiEr, Again you have put me into smiles! When I got the email this morning - May 29, 2011 - and saw the 'SEWING' bookmarks I said, "I'm making those FOR ME!!!" Love em. Thank you for your continued desire to bring pleasure to others.
    Margaret S

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  10. These bookmarks have been a hit in our house many times. We have made them for gifts, we did some charity fund raising (with your permission of course) and we have made them just because we love them. We just finished making a whole batch of Christmas bookmarks using this idea. I drew my own Christmas themed bookmarks and we used them in a Christmas craft activity for my daughter's class. I blogged about it on Random Crafting Adventures.

    If anyone wants a copy of Christmas themed bookmarks, please visit my blog and send me a message.

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