All You Need is Paper (and a little love) ESL/EFL activities

This easy to make Mother's Day paper bag won everybody's heart. All you need is a sheet of paper, any color is fine, 2 paper bag handles, and some more paper in different colors to make the hearts, flowers and circles. Fold one sheet in the middle, glue the handles on the inside like in the photo, glue the sides, draw as many flowers, circles and hearts as you like. Write some words or messages in the hearts, glue them onto the top of a white sheet of paper, and you can let the kids be creative and write or draw something on the white sheet. I glued all the flowers and circles on one side and wrote Happy Mother's Day on the other side. Place the white sheet with the hearts in the bag, and it looks like the bag is filled with hearts. My students really loved making this, and it was pretty easy for them, even though they're still having classes via Zoom. I hope their moms liked them as much as they did.      

My bilingual 3rd grade group is studying communities. We made this mobile for them to practice connecting the community helpers to their workplace. Students could choose the places and helpers they wanted to use. At the end, each student presented their project to the class. They had to say: The teacher works at the school, for example. We used a paper bag handle, creative paper and string.  These are all things they usually have at home, so there were no major issues finding the material. This group is still all having online classes that's why I always have to think of projects with material they can easily find in their homes.  

  Here's my last Easter post, well, for now. I used the same shape I used before here for the standing paper . I cut out this shape and the bunnies from creative paper, used cotton for the tails, added some details with a marker, and it's done. Students can share their cards with the class and take them home to decorate their houses for Easter. Happy Easter everyone!  

  This hungry bunny is funny and easy to draw. Fold a white sheet of paper in the middle, fold each side of the paper back, so you can draw the bunny looking cute first. Next, open the paper completely to draw the big mouth and everything the bunny is eating. The kids can draw lots of different Easter related treats and more if they like. If you like, you can even have them write Happy Easter on the inside.  

    Making a Tic Tac Toe is an awesome fun way to review any vocabulary and to celebrate different holidays or festivities. On this game, I used plastic bottle caps, which I always like to save to repurpose, chopsticks and white paper. It's pretty easy for students to make, just advise them in advance to start saving the bottle caps and get some chopsticks or popsicle sticks for the "hashtag". You and the students can be creative when it comes to drawing the eggs and the bunnies. Another option is drawing eggs and carrots or bunnies and carrots. When they're done, have them share the colors and details they used on their eggs. If they are still at home, they can play with their family.  

 It's chocolate time again! In Brazil, Easter means chocolate Easter eggs. Easter also brings to mind bunnies. Since we're still basically at home waiting to get vaccinated here, an Easter craft has to be made with something kids have at home, so egg cartons it is. Saw this with a range of different animals on Pinterest and thought I'd use it for a bunny Easter craft, so here's Mr. Rabbit's portrait. One of the good things about an egg carton is that it has some curves to it, which you can use for the rabbit's ears. I cut up a cereal box to use as the base, which is another thing kids will most likely have at home, of course, it can be any cardboard. I used markers to decorate the frame-like base. Let kids get creative here. I used hot glue just because I wanted everything to dry faster. I then painted the bunny white, waited for it to dry, and added the details with a black pen. The pink on the ears is also paint. I used a little bit of red and when it mixed wi...

  Valentine's Day is here! The much awaited (or not so much) time of the year. Here's a looks-hard-but-it's-easy-to-do card you can make with your students or by yourself to gift someone. You're going to need 2 sheets of papers, a white one and another one in a different color. I made a pink and a black one. I've already posted a video on how to make this here when I wrote about the Mood Tracker, so it's the same idea but this time you can right a person's name on it using different lettering, add doodles and decorate it however you want. You have to do the drawing and writing after the white papers are in place. You can also write something on the cover or maybe even make an envelope for it. Here's the video on how to fold and cut the papers for you again: Hope your students get creative with it. Have a Happy Valentine's day!