Kids Book Plates To Print For Back To School

These book plates to print are for your kids. Going back to school is upon us and our summer routine will be drastically changed. Besides all of the hustle and bustle of getting ready for school, the little ones will be bringing home lots of books. Bookplates for children are a fun way for them to personalize their books and notebooks… they love it!

I’ve included a sheet of black and white book plates… for your kids to color… and a sheet of full color…so they just have to cut them out and put them in a book….or on their notebooks or where ever.

Simply print them on sticker paper. My choice is “Ink Jet Sticker Project Paper” by Avery. There are 15 sheets per packet… 8 1/12″ x 11″. Of course, you can print them out on card stock paper, or photo paper and use a little glue to adhere them to the book. Frankly… the ease of sticker paper would be my first choice.

You can generally find the sticker paper at an Office Supply or on line at Avery.

I took a few copies over for a couple of my grandsons, Glade and Randall, to look at and they grabbed the black and white ones… cause they wanted to color. These black and white printables are large…so they’re easy to color.

I was surprised to see Glade color the flowered bookplates first. Hmmm…I wonder who the flower book plates are for?

Then, he colored the dragonfly and added his name for his own notebook.

Randall went to town with the markers. He had a good time… He went through every one of the colored markers…. had to try them all, ya know.

Hey… just take a look at those baby blues… He’s a killer, huh?

Randall did a pretty good job with the scissors too.

Glade didn’t want to color all of them right then. He wanted to save some for school but… he cut his dragonfly book plate out right away!

His main class notebook is where Glade chose to put the bookplate he colored. He simply removed the backing from the sticker paper and placed the bookplate in just the right spot. Lookin’ good!

The full color sheet was a great choice for Glade to use in his smaller books. He ask if he could have
all the extras… cause he wanted to share the rest of the bookplates with his school chums. Good idea!

To get these free book plates to print, all you have to do is fill out the form below and I will e-mail you the book plate download links immediately. Once you’ve sign in… you’ll be on my list for all the future free goodies I send to my list.

Sign in now… so you won’t forget.

Till Later

Kathy Griffiths

Insightful Nana

P.S. My daughter Em came up with a great idea. “Mom, why don’t you do some small stickers that say, ‘This Belongs To’ or ‘This Is Mine’ so the sticker can go on pencil boxes… backpacks, crayons, glue, and all the little goodies that kids need to take to school.” Great idea Em… I’ll get on it right away. Look for these new little goodies in the next couple of weeks.

P.P.S. Even more reason to sign up below…so you won’t miss out on a thing!

5 Practical Back To School Ideas

Here’s 5 practical Back To School ideas that will be help you and your kids get back into the swing of things, now that the summer is over.

Going back to school can be stressful. There’s clothes shopping to be done, school supplies to purchase, bus schedules to review, registration forms to fill out, fees to pay, on top of the million other things you need to get behind you before the first day begins.

Kids also can feel a bit of school anxiety… will I like my teacher…will my teacher like me… will my best friends be in my class… what shall I wear on the first day? After the dust settles down… here are 5 tips to consider for making the school year run more smoothly for you and your kids.

Routine: Believe it or not.. kids like a routine. It takes some of the “unknowns” out of their lives. Can you imagine what it would be like to go into work everyday and not know what’s expected of you? What does the boss want me to do…what are my limitations… what is my job… how much freedom to I have within my job description… what can I do to please my boss?

Without a routine or guidelines… you would feel like you were walking on egg shells all the time. Your children have the same feelings when you don’t have a routine or guidelines. Talk about anxiety! Planning a back to school routine will help both of you get back into the groove of going back to school.

Things to consider are: What time do we get up… when will we eat breakfast…who uses the bathroom first… do we bathe in the mornings, or evening? What is the routine after school… do we work on homework before playtime or after playtime…. when do we practice the piano, what time can we plan on dinner… how much T.V. time do we have… what time do we go to bed?

Include them in the planning of the school routine. Of course your plan needs to be flexible but, for the most part, stick to the schedule.

Get Enough Sleep: More and more studies are being released, shouting the importance of children getting enough rest. Elementary children need at least 10 hours of sleep a night to be able to function at the top of their game the next day.

That mean, if a child gets up at 7:00 in the morning, he needs to be in bed by 9:00 in the evening. So, bed preparations need to start early so the lights are turned off by 9:00.

1. Having a set bed time gives them a target to work toward and trains their bodies towards the routine.

2. Turn off the TV and have a winding down period, which may include a bedtime story and a little bedtime song.

3. Get drinks and bathroom duties handled before the lights are turned out.

Believe it or not, studies show that Jr. high and high school students are routinely getting between 6.5 and 7 hours of sleep a night. They need a minimum of 8 hours or more during the puberty years… which can certainly be a challenge because their lives, like ours, is complex.

1. Homework can rob them of precious hours of sleep if they wait too long in the evening to get started. Waiting until bedtime to begin is not the ideal scene. Also, starting late often does not produce the best school work results because they’re tired and in a hurry.

2. Late phone calls and text messaging can infringe on their sleep time. Perhaps you can agree upon a time when phone calls or texting end for the day. It might encourage going to bed and getting enough sleep so they can be at their best in the morning.

3. They, like younger kids, need a winding down period. Perhaps, this might be the time when you can have a quite discussion about their day. I know of one mom, who would give her older kids a 5 minute back rub before they went to bed. I’ll have to say… that’s more dedication than I’ve got.

Lay Out Clothes and Get Backpacks Ready: Laying clothes out the night before and, having backpacks loaded with books and homework at the door, prevents “morning frantic panic.”

Even your young school kids can select their clothes the night before and have them ready to slip on in the morning. Have them place all of their clothes at the foot of the bed then, you can then check to see if their outfits are complete. “Oops, looks like your missing your socks.” Or, “The weather man said that it’s going to snow tomorrow…perhaps you need to select a different shirt.” They’ll soon get the drift of things and you won’t have to supervise as much. (Oh… and than means coats and gloves, boots etc. are also located the night before.)

Encourage your older kids to know what they’ll be wearing the next morning. No running the washer at five in the morning because they didn’t prepare well.

As soon as homework is completed and their reading is done, pack up the backpacks and place them at the door. If your signature needs to be on any papers, or they need money for a field trip, make sure those things are handled and in the pack before it’s placed at the exit. There’s nothing more frustrating than a kid waving a pen in front of your face as you’re driving them to school.

Eat A Healthy Breakfast: The school, a couple of my grandkids attend, sent a note home announcing tests were being given on a particular day and would parents see that their kids eat a healthy breakfast…. a breakfast of protein and grains and not sugared cereals etc. My thinking is… if that request is good enough on test days, it’s good enough for every day.

A child can be over stimulated by a breakfast of sugared products, therefore they can’t perform at their best… plus being a problem for the teacher. Scramble eggs with the addition of a little cheese can boost the protein in their breakfast. A cup of yogurt will give them protein… however, all yogurts aren’t alike. Watch the labels. So many yogurts are full of sugar and don’t contain beneficial enzymes. Again..read the labels. Use whole grain foods rather than products that have been striped of natural nutrients. (Oh, and watch the labels on peanut butter…some have a lot of sugar included.)

Keep A Sense Of Humor: Keeping a sense of humor goes along way between the the hours of 3:30 and 9:00. A frustrated mom creates frustrated kids. Keep to the schedule as much a possible but don’t take every little departure too seriously. Laugh a lot and keep things as light as possible.

When your kids get over-whelmed or have social problems, let them in on a few of your school challenges and mishaps. When kids feel you can duplicate their experience….it helps for them to know you understand.

I remember ending up at Jr. High with my P.J. bottoms hanging below my skirt. I would keep my bottom on to keep my legs warm until I walked out the door. This particular morning… I just forgot to take them off. I didn’t catch on until half way into my first period class…. talk about being embarrassed. Or, how about the time in elementary school, when I wet my pants in front of the class because a teacher wouldn’t let me be excused. And… that’s nothing compared to my wetting my pants on a date… but that’s a story for another time.

The experiences were tragic at the time… but I laugh about them now. Help your kids get a long range perspective. Keep them laughing.

Go for it… and good luck!

Till Later,

Kathy Griffiths

Insightfulnana.com

P.S. You can avoid confusion at school by having all of their books and notebooks labeled properly. Take a look at these fun book plates you can put in your kids books… I’m offering them to you for your kids… freeeeee.