To all the moms out there, can you think of a better gift than one that you child made by hand that thanks you over and over again for all the little things you do? And this project with free printable, is small, personalized and dare I say… doesn’t include an empty toilet paper roll so you will want to keep it forever!
And all you need is a black and white printer, some twine (yarn or ribbon) and a hole punch (or scissors can work too) — most likely all things you already have at home on hand.
It was so fun to see my kids (Kinder and 3rd grade) make these and see their emotional intelligence identifying ways that I make them feel happy, proud, loved and adventurous! There are 7 different emotion prompts with a frame for their own illustration.
SUPPLIES
- Paper and printer (cardstock or copy paper)
- Twine for the binding (or ribbon or yarn)
- Scissors
- Hole punch (or scissors)
FREE PRINTABLE
Step 1: Print the free printable file on 8 1/2 x 11″ cardstock or copy paper. The 10 page PDF will be printed on a total of 5 pieces of paper. In the printer settings make sure to select “Print of both sides of paper” and “Flip on SHORT edge” otherwise some pages might be upside down.
NOTE: The first two pages are the cover, back and inside of the cover and back. You can print these on colored paper if you like.
Tip: If you are using thin copy paper, you can print the emotion prompt pages on another piece of paper, cut it out and use a glue stick to paste over the same page. We did that with colored copy paper (shown in photos) to cover the markers and pencils that bled through from the other side.
ASSEMBLE
Step 2: Cut along the line on each page to remove the excess paper. Keep the pages in the order they were printed (marked A, B, C..) but you can also use the page numbers on the book to keep them in order.
Step 3: Fold the stacked paper in half with the cover page on top. Double check that the page numbers are in order.
BIND
Step 4: Use a hole punch or pair of scissors to clip off a small piece of each page at the folded edge to weave the twine through for the binding. When using the hole punch, only overlap the punch a small bit with the edge of the paper.
Step 5: Using the twine (thread or ribbon), weave through the holes to make 3 bars of thread on the bound edge. At the center of the book (“I feel sad when” page), tie a knot to secure and cut excess twine.
Tip: If it is hard to get the twine through the hole, you can wrap a piece of tape around the edge of the twine to make a “needle” before weaving through the paper.
Let your kids have fun filling in each page and making their very own book.
Spoiler alert: The book ends with “Thank you for being my…” so kids can fill it in with whatever name they want. (And by this photo, can you tell we’ve had distant learning for the past month? Have to say that special shout-out made me smile.)
This also makes a great gift for Grandma, or anyone else kids might want to recognize this Mother’s Day.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!
Leave a Reply