BTS Craftivity: Pool Noodle Pencil!

Happy Sunday Teacher Friends!

I woke up this lovely summer Sunday morning and stayed in bed browsing Pinterest to see what new things my fellow teachers were pinning. I didn't think that I would come across an image of a classroom door that I fell in love with! 

Here is my inspiration door...

The link on Pinterest only takes you to a photo, so I am not sure who to give credit to but I did link the photo for you below so that you can check it our yourself!
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/bf/be/a7/bfbea7d301d6815b8e0873b452d53a0d.jpg

While I love this door, I already have my go to back to school door up and ready to go. That doesn't mean that I can't take inspiration from the pool noodle pencils and make one myself! 

Here is my final project!

 This project is super simple especially if you already have a pool noodles sitting in your backyard like I did!

Supplies:

1. Hollow pool noodle in your choice of color.
2. Tin foil
3. Scotch tape
4. Pink acrylic paint (I mixed Red & White!)
5. Super sharp knife for tapering the pencil end.
6. A large wooden Dowell Rod, broomstick or old flag pole like I used! You only need a few inches to go inside of your pool noodle!
7. Sandpaper
8. Tan or light brown paint
9. Paint brush
10. Black Sharpie

Directions:

• First I mixed red and white acrylic paint and painted one end of the pool noodle, including the top! I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.
• I cut a piece of tin foil off the roll and folded it in half with the dull side out. You can use the shiny side, but I thought the dull side looked more realistic! Then I folded the ends in to make them straight. I taped one end of the foil to the noodle, wrapped the foil around making sure it was straight. I finished by taping the end.
• Next find a wooden rod that will fit into the hollow hole. I had an old flagpole in my garage. I cut off about 4-5 inches to make sure it would stay inside. I then sanded one end to look like a rounded point. Color the wooden Dowell with a black Sharpie to look like the lead and insert it into the noodle.
• Take a sharp knife, or a serrated knife and slim down the end to create a point. It was really rough with a serrated knife so I took the sharpest knife I could find to clean it up a little. Don't worry, the paint will conceal any problems!
• When you have the tip the way you like it, paint it with some tan or light brown paint. I decided to make a zig-zag pattern along the edge but you don't have to! Use a hairdryer to make it dry faster!
• Use black Sharpie to make lines on the foil to make it look a little more realistic and TA DA!

You can also add a #2 and anything else you would like to personalize your pencil! I am still thinking about what I want my GIANT pencil to say! If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them! Please leave comments below!