Back to School Birdhouse

Welcome little ones back to school with this sweet Back to School Birdhouse from Carmen Flores Tanis.  Made with simple classroom materials, project can be made for a favorite teacher.  The cute chalkboard design around the birdhouse makes it easy to customize and decorate.  Get the kids involved in the creation of this fun teacher gift.

Materials:

• Wood bird house
• 3 dozen pencils
• Metal ruler
• Sheets of double sided tape
• Silver tooling foil
• Scrap pieces of chipboard
• Black chalkboard spray paint
• Back Sharpie permanent marker
• Scissors & craft knife
• Tin snips
• Embossing tool (or dull pencil or dull pointy dowel)
• Paint pens & white-out pen
• Electric pencil sharpener
• Scroll saw or some kind of hacksaw for cutting pencils

Instructions:

1. Spray paint your birdhouse black.
   
   
    
2. Measure each of the side of the house and cut the metal ruler to fit.
   
   
   
   
    
3. These shapes will decorate each of the front bird entrances.
   
   
    
4. Darken the embossed designs with a little bit of black Sharpie. Wipe off excess ink.
   
   
    
5. Fine tipped white-out correction ink pens work really well!
   
   
   
   
    
6. Use a scroll saw or hack saw to shorten the pencils. Then use the electric pencil sharpener to sharpen each pencil. Dull the tips a little by rubbing them on a piece of sandpaper.