This is an easy peasy craft I did with my 5 year old for a bit of school holiday fun combined with back-to-school anticipation, or in our case, beginning big school for the first time ever! These little pencil toppers probably won’t take to being tossed around in a school bag very well without breaking and will be kept at home to look fabulous on the girls new ‘homework desk’. They are very easy and fun for all ages and only limited by the imagination. Here’s how we made them.
The clay we have used is ‘Cartoon Clay’ by Monte Marte. I’ve only mentioned the brand name (which is not affiliated with this post in any way) because I’ve not found anything similar out there, although I’m not an expert on clay crafts and could be wrong. This was the first time we’d ever used this stuff. It’s very soft and squishy to work with, is very lightweight and feels like you’re crafting with marshmallows. Miss 5 had lots of fun, and so did I!
We used a couple of cookie cutter shapes as the only tool, the rest of the modelling we did freestyle. We started by making little shapes and characters. These we stuck on to a smaller round ball which was in turn stuck on to the end of a pencil. Easy peasy!
Miss 5 made a few pencil toppers and then turned her attention to making jewellery and gems. Her sister (miss 4) wasn’t at home with us, so she even made some rings and gems for her too.
The yellow rose and the cartoon-style characters were made by mum; I too was enjoying myself.
Here are some of our finished pieces. They look great on the kids ‘new’ 70’s style school desk, which is the very same one my sister, and I used ourselves as kids.
I love cartoon clay and it is not expensive; older children get very involved in making their creations. You can also add goggle eyes, pipe cleaners, gem stones, glitter, ribbon and make the creative process last that little bit longer. It air dries, depending on the size in under an hour and it is not too messy and that is a good bonus. Nathalie Brown
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What a neat idea. I’ll definitely be doing this with my kids 🙂
gorgeous! I know some school kids who would love to make these for their new pencils!