They are so easy even the kids can paint them! 

Here’s how to make and play!

Pencil Themed Clothespins

This time of year is always a fun time to spark your child’s love of learning and school. Playing games inspired by back to school supplies help you kick off the school year with a focus on taking good care of all those products you just spent your money on.

Here’s how you can make simple but fun pencil themed clothespins with your child.  You can even make them personalized pencils for a special school work art display to highlight their special work this year.

One way to prep your child for reading success is to start off the year by working on the Dolch Sight Word List.

Disclosure: Affiliate links used to Amazon.  

Materials Needed for Pencil Themed Clothespins and Literacy Game

• Mini Wooden Clothespins 
• Shimmering Silver Acrylic Paint
• Acrylic Paint Canary Yellow
• Acrylic Paint Pink Parfait
• Paint Brush
• Scrapbook Paper 
• Scissors 
• Sharpie Permanent Marker Black
• Handwriting Paper
• wax paper or paper plate

Instructions for Pencil Themed Clothespins

1. Use the yellow paint to create the pencil by painting on both sides of the chunky clothespin covering 3/4 of the wood.  Be sure to also paint the sides too. Get your kids involved in this craft, it’s really easy and a fun memory to do together.

2. Then using the pink paint, it’s time to add the pencil eraser to the end of the pencil.  I made the end where you pinch the eraser portion so I could also paint the inside portion too.  Be sure to paint the edges on this task too pink.

3.  The last step is to use your silver paint to create the metal portion of your pencil.  The Shimmering Silver Acrylic Paint adds a special sparkle to the whole pencil craft which I highly recommend.  You can use it later in the year to create holiday crafts too, instead of using glitter.

4. OPTIONAL: You can paint a little black potion of the end for a pencil point, we left it off to make them easier to make.  Plus, if you really want your pencil painting to last you could also add an Acrylic Paint Sealer

Pencil Themed Sight Word Game

This can be a fun hands-on way to work on those high-frequency words for Kindergarten & First Grade! To create the pencil themed literacy game for sight words take your Scrapbook Paper and cut out with Scissors  24 squares.  They can be the size of around 2 inches by 2 inches for easy handling, you go make them smaller if you’d prefer. Add a few more if you’re planning to do spelling words for those double letters in words like the word “that.”

Write one letter per square with your Permanent Marker Black.  You can do it with your child watching you write the letters and discuss letter formations for younger kids OR I would have my child do it and have an alphabet chart on the table close by so that they can work on proper letter formations with you watching their handwriting skills.

Once you write all of the letters, it’s time to play!  You can start off with letter writing practice by choosing a letter card and putting it onto the Pencil Clothespin as a stand. 

Next, you can move to practice forming word families like choosing the word family -at and then selecting a few letter cards that would go with it like s, c, m, p, f, r.  Then challenge your child to see if they can read those words.

This activity would be ideal for spelling word practice too!  Have your child gather the letter cards and place them onto the Pencil Clothespins and then write them out on their Primary Handwriting Paper for spelling word practice in a hands-on way.

You can have them practice writing down each word that they made with the pencil themed sight word game!

Literacy Game with Pencil Clothespins

• Work on Spelling Word Lists
• Word Families
• Alphabetical Order
• Matching Upper Case to Lower Case Letters

Did you know that sight words make up around 75% of the words used in beginning children’s print materials? Sight words can give your child a better start in learning to read.

If your child is able to quickly recognize sight words then as a beginning reader they will be able to spend more time concentrating on the meaning and comprehension of the words as they read them instead of having to decode every single word.

Learning Materials for Back to School Writing

• My First Pencils Large Round
• #2 Pencils Box of 96
• Primary Handwriting Paper

Learn now Why You Should be Using Beginner Pencils for Handwriting Practice with young children.

Can’t wait to hear how your child’s pencil themed clothespins turn out and how they use them at your house. They would be a cute little teacher gift idea for their teacher too. You could even attach magnets to the back to create pencil themed magnets for their classroom.

You may also enjoy these activities with your child…

More Sight Word Games for Kids

• Sight Words with Glass Gems 
• Sea Shell Sight Word Game 
• Pumpkin Sight Word Game with Sensory Bottle 
• Fish Themed Sight Word Game

Want the best pencil to learn to write? Here’s our favorite!

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Ticonderoga. All opinions are 100% mine. Affiliate links included in this post.

Teaching young children to learn to write is one of my most favorite things to do. Giving a child the right writing tools to be successful is an important step. A large size round No. 2 pencil is easy for small hands to hold making them ideal for children in the early stages of their writing development.

Have you bought your Ticonderoga pencils yet for your beginner writer this school year?

Using a Beginner Pencil for Handwriting

In my Kindergarten classroom, I prefer to teach how to properly write using large diameter pencils. This back to school season we’re kicking off our writing with a very special pencil from Ticonderoga Pencils, just for beginning writers ages 7 or younger.

The larger pencil is so much easier for little hands to hold as they develop their fine motor skills and story writing skills. Plus it helps with learning to form the proper way to hold a pencil which can make a huge impact on handwriting in the future.

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With oversized beginner pencils the thicker core of graphite helps to prevent the frustrations from the graphite breaking, and they stay sharper longer as your child practices writing with a pencil. It gives them time to be creative and write down their thoughts.

If they make a mistake the erasers remove marks easily without smudging. You’d be amazed how distractive little tasks like erasing can be to beginning writers.

Handwriting Skills for Preschoolers and Kindergartners

Handwriting skills start off at an early age as fine motor skills that you learn through hands-on play. If you have a preschooler at home I’d recommend starting off this school year by heading to your favorite store for school supplies and look for the My First Ticonderoga Pencil. These larger pencils come pre-sharpened plus they come with a bonus sharpener too.

If you’ve never seen them before, you need to know that they are much thicker than regular pencils which helps with easily being able to grip. The pencil’s graphite is big enough to withstand even the hardest writers for smooth writing. These pencils are great for beginning writers who would like a substantial size that is easier to hold on to as they work on proper pencil grip.

How to Develop Proper Pencil Grip

You might be wondering how do I teach my child how to hold a pencil?

You start by developing the skills that are required, which requires a lot of hands on play and exploration. Playground time can make a huge impact in your child’s handwriting as they grow up, so go PLAY! Below I’ve listed some of the things your child will develop for their handwriting skills and proper pencil grip.

• Very young children even start by tummy time to build their postural strength through so they can sit up at a desk eventually.
• Develop shoulder and upper arm strength and stability so they can hold their arm steady whilst they write by playing push and pull games and hanging from the monkey bars.
• When writing you’ll need to stabilize their wrists so activities like painting on an easel or using a rolling pin. Even holding onto swings is important in developing these skills.
• One key element to proper pencil grip is the arch of the palm. Invite your child to play with the trigger of spray bottles, tongs, or hole punches to develop hand grip strength.
• To help develop a child’s pincer grip you can encourage them by threading small beads, using pegs, or pinching playdough.

Continue doing these activities while your child is developing their proper pencil grip.

To set your child up for success it’s important to remember that very young children will not be strong enough to hold small pencils. They are working on the ability to control and stabilize their shoulders/wrists. Because of this kids tend to use chunkier writing tools, like My First Ticonderoga Pencils, and write using whole arm movements. As their strength and control develops, the movement of writing will move from the whole arm, to the wrist, and finally to the fingertips.

The goal is around ages 4-6 years old your child will develop a static tripod grip on their pencil.

This is the ideal grip to help move the pencil efficiently, accurately, and at a good speed. Once your child masters these skills they are ready to start practicing and perfecting their letter formations!

Here are some additional tips to improve handwriting for your child.

Pencil Themed Handwriting Activity for Kids

For a playful idea for a handwriting activity you can create fun letter cards together that are inspired by pencils. The pencil clothespins help to develop hand drip strength and focus on letter recognition too. We used some chubby clothespins from a local craft store and some leftover paint to create these pencil clothespins.

Grab some paper and your beginner pencil for writing fun with your child. Or you can use these pencil themed clips to display your child’s handwriting work for the school year!

Head to the store this back to school season and look for the Ticonderoga large diameter pencils (also called primary or beginner size pencils) for young children (7 and under), or differently-abled individuals and start working on your writing skills.

They’ve spent 100 years of helping families tell their story. Ticonderoga focuses on being #1 in quality just for you!

Looking for more ideas for handwriting and fine motor skills with kids? Try these…