”Hey, that’s my pencil!” You won’t have to worry about that anymore with these fun personalized pencil toppers. When your pencil wears down, simply remove the topper and put it on top of a new one. Make an ordinary pencil something special with this personalized pencil craft. Use beads to spell out a name, nickname or favorite phrase.

Looking for more decoration ideas for school? Be sure to visit our back-to-school index for even more fun ideas including school printables, first day of school tips, our back-to-school countdown and more.

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. Place eraser head on a pencil.
2. Put a little white glue around the base of the eraser head.
3. Wrap string around the eraser head, smoothing out the glue as you go. Wrap enough to cover most of the bottom half of the eraser head.
4. Cut a piece of string that is about 8 inches long.
5. Tie a knot in one end and string beads on from the other end. The knot should keep the beads from falling off the other end.
6. Once all the beads are on, tie a knot after the last bead.
7. Apply some more glue to the string wrapped around the eraser head.
8. If necessary, trim the long end of the string that the beads are on so that your excess is about 3 - 4 inches in length.
9. Wrap the excess string from the beads around the eraser head, adding more glue if needed and smoothing with your finger as you go.

Tips:

• Manipulating string and beads in this craft can be difficult for smaller children. To make it easier for little kids, use a chenille stem instead of string, though you will need beads with a larger threading hole.
• Keep extra eraser heads on hand to make more later. A package of 30 or so can be found for less than a dollar.
• Add beads with the letters that correspond to your child’s interest. For example, use baseball beads if your child likes baseball. Other kids will like shiny, colorful beads or flower charms.