"Making" Pencils



This is something at we did yesterday after we went to get a few school supplies at walmart. I really like natural wooden pencil. I think that they look good, they feel good, and they match everything! :) However, we weren't able to find any at the store, so I thought I would wait. Later that day, i was writing with a Hannah Montana pencil and the plastic bit (you know the printed plastic layer that has the character design on it) came off. Underneath was a beautiful wooden pencil! Bunny went through a phase where she LOVED Hannah Montana, so we had a handful of unsharpened pencils left over from that. So I took the kids downstairs to "make" pencils. Unfortunately when I stripped these pencils I found, not natural wood, but a thin white painted layer. Well I got out some fine grit sandpaper and sanded it off. This soon became a group project. Pup help peeled the plastic off (she has been peeling every crayon in the house right now, so this was fun for her) and Bunny used the new pencil sharpener to sharpen the new pencils (can anyone say Practical Life?), and I sanded, and sanded, and sanded.....you get the idea. They turned out pretty well! The girls had fun and now they seem attached to the new pencils. Was it worth saving $2? Probably not! :) But was able to get rid of a few pencils that I didn't want to use! Here is the few pictures that we managed to get during this messy (did I mention it was messy?) project.

Pup peeling the plastic

Bunny took a picture of the wrappers

Me sanding, and sanding, and sanding......

Bunny sharpening

Here they are finished! Like I said, they look pretty good!

How are you getting ready for the new school year?