Cute and Crafty

I was flipping through the Parents magazine that just came in the mail last night and saw this really cute idea-

From the January 2014 Parents Magazine

They call them "Jungle Book Ends".  I thought this would be such a cute idea for the classroom, and it's such an easy way to make customized pieces to match your classroom theme!

Basically all you do is attach a plastic to jungle animal to a wood block and paint it.

That's it.

You're done!

How simple is that?  I totally love that you just paint the block and the decorating object the same solid color.  Simple and not overdone . . . and makes it so much easier to fit whatever color scheme you've got going on in your room (if you have one).

You can get the wooden block pieces from anywhere like Lowe's or Home Depot.  I'm sure if you ask nicely they'll even cut those wooden posts to your desired size.  Then you can find the decoration piece at garage sales, Goodwill, craft stores like Michaels, etc.  I've bought those rubbery animals from Hobby Lobby before as decoration for my daughter's birthday party one year and they were pretty inexpensive.  You can use a hot glue gun to attach your decoration, or if you want a really secure hold you might think about drilling up through the wooden block into the decoration and securing with a screw.  That's if you're really, REALLY serious about a good hold!  Then just grab some spray paint (in any color of your choice) and give the book end a good coat.

I rummaged around in my daughter's toy box and found these items as an example of some things you might even use!

This is actually a bath toy we got her from Walmart.  I think it was $1.

Toy bowling ball and pin.  (Do you recognize these, Dana and Katie?  LOL!)

Rubber Ducky

Tea pot and tea cup from her tea set

Uh . . . this is actually my dog's squeaky hamburger to.  I think it was from the Target Dollar section ages ago!

 You get the point.  Have fun!  Be creative!  I'm thinking that a nice coat of silver, gold, or some kind of metallic paint would glam it up if you wanted to do something like this for your office.