We welcomed a new student into the classroom this school year. His name is Canyon and he is so eager to learn. River and Lily started school last week and Canyon did his best to be patient because mommy wasn’t finished getting all of his material ready for his first day.
I am pulling from so many resources this school year, but two of them that I am using material from, Confessions of a Homeschooler and Home Grown Hearts, are heavy magnetic pom pom users. I never really thought of pom poms for anything other than arts & crafts pieces, but have now seen the light. Because of my new revelation, I included pom poms on my homeschool registry and magnetic dots here or here so that I could make these really cool teaching tools OR play toys for Canyon and his older brother and sister who don’t seem to understand that these are for school purposes only. Oh, well, good thing I made a lot.
I sorted the pom poms to be sure I made an equal amount of each color I wanted. I’m just like that.
Although the magnets have an adhesive back, I knew it wouldn’t be strong enough to hold the pom poms in place through multiple uses, so I decided to glue them to the magnets.
I used a baking sheet and lined the magnets on there leaving enough space for working and for the size of the pom poms. The magnets obviously stuck to the magnetic surface and were easier to work with because they didn’t move around.
If you’re a hot glue gun user then you already know once you press the trigger on the gun, you gotta pick up your pace, while also being very careful. Why you ask? It’s because of these three reasons:
1. The glue is hot. 2. The glue dries extremely fast. 3. Before the glue dries, it can burn the heck out of you. If you don’t want to fall to victim to any of these instances, then watch closely.
Put glue on the magnetic dot.
If you’re not quick with your hands, then glue only one dot.
If you are quick with your hands and a little daring like me, then go for it and glue more than one dot.
Either way, be ready to place and press.
Soon you’ll have a tray looking like this and you’ll be able to really visualize all of the fun activities you and your children will be able to do. Don’t worry about the extra glue that dries on the sides because it easily peels off after drying. If you need more time from glue to pom poms, then using a cold/regular craft glue works just fine, but takes longer to dry.
They clean up easily because they stick together.
They also store well in a container, so pack ‘em in.
