Estimated time to complete activitiy:
Up to 20 -30 minutes per pin (depends on age of child, and complexity of design)

Materials needed:
Pre-cut wood shapes, about 1/8 inch thick; small, but large enough to paint ;-)

Pencil

Acrylic craft paints

Paintbrush

Pinbacks

"Tacky" craft glue

Optional: glitter, rubber stamps

Description:
Check the selection of holiday pre-cut wood shapes at the craft store! Teachers (especially those in the primary grades) often wear scatter pins and other items that celebrate holidays, or the new school year. Examples: snowflakes, hearts, shamrocks, flags, schoolhouse w/bell, school bus, apple, pumpkin/jack-o-lantern, maple leaf, Christmas tree or bell...musical notes, books...the list goes on and on.

You could make a collection, or just make them for fun, close to the appropriate time, and attach to a home-made card or letter of appreciation.

While it's true that the ladies groove on such fashion accessories more than the guys do...male teachers have been known to attach such items to their bulletin board, recognizing a gift from the Heart for what it is! ;-)

Instructions:
Choose your shapes, and paints.

If you have a design in mind, beyond the basic shape, sketch it lightly w/pencil. If using more than one color, allow each color to dry just a bit, before putting another color next to it.

When you have the glamour and glitz and decorating all finished, allow the paint, etc., to dry thoroughly before turning the wood shape Upside Down and gluing the pinback to its backside. Allow the glue to dry completely, preferably Overnight.

Other suggestions or comments:
I just finished making "Patriotic Heart" pins, for my daughter to give to her friends and teachers, following the disaster of 9/11/01.

This pin uses hearts about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches. There is a blue "shield" at the upper, rounded portion of the heart, and 4 vertical white stripes/3 vertical red stripes. There are 3 white stars, applied carefully with a 1/4 inch rubber stamp. (Apply paint lightly, each time, and stamp once on a piece of scrap paper before stamping the wood piece...each time! That saves re-touching gunky work later.)

I used a red pencil to sketch the design, 'cuz that seems to show less in the final product, for this particular design.

An index card worked better for me as a "straight edge" than a ruler (go figure! I don't know why...) to assist in sketching the stripes.

The paintbrush was swiped from my kid's watercolor palette box.

A palette of small pots o' paint, or dibs and dabs of your leftover craft paints, may be adequate for this project, unless you are working with a large group.

Look for Sales on the wood shapes, and the pins.

My Patriotic Heart pins, once I got into a groove with them, took 2 hours for 16 pins, start to finish, assembly-line style. When you finish applying paint to the 16th, the 1st and subsequent are well on their way to being dry...so that moves things along.

For younger children, go with sheer simplicity of color, and design. They can still get some neat effects, with minimal fuss and maximum creativity. (If it isn't fun, why do it?) Young kids won't want to crank out 50 of them; their attention span won't support that ;-)

Don't give away all of your pins! you'll want to keep one for yourself, so you have one to wear (and one for a future "sample" to look at, in case you choose to repeat the activity).

If you really get going with these, you can make them for Grandmas, too; they cost little to mail, but please Pad that envelope well, and mail Early!!