CD Case Calendar

I love kid-created crafts.  While my usual philosophy for kid-art is that it is about the process, not the product, Mother's Day is an exception.  As both a teacher, and the orchestrator of gifts for Grandma, it's a challenge to come up with projects for Mother's Day presents that are both kid-created, and nice.  This project is one that is super easy, and contains just the right balance of kid-made and worthwhile end product.

In searching for a Mother's Day gift to make with an elementary school art class I teach, I came across this idea at dollarstore crafts.  It is a perfect project for those millions of cd cases that just aren't useful anymore.  Because I wanted the gift to be kid-created, I made a simple calendar template that can be printed and decorated.  Click here to download the template.  My version is a 12-month May 2011 to April 2012 Calendar.



If you prefer to make your own calendar, you can do it easily with either Photoshop or Word.  I made mine in Word, with each month measuring just smaller than 120mm x 120mm.



Once you print off your pages, just cut them out and decorate.  You can use crayons, paint, markers, stickers.... the sky is the limit!  I cut my pages too small, so I mounted them on black construction paper which works too.

When your kids are finished, simply open up the cd case, and slide in the new calendar pages.  Ta-da! 



This little gift can sit on a desk, and cheer up any Mother's workspace.  As an added bonus, it is small and flat, perfect for mailing to (grand)mothers who happen to live far away.

Happy Mother's Week everyone!