This simple and easy project came about when my son and daughter became obsessed with this fiction book series called Warriors by Erin Hunter. They follow the adventures of four clans of wild cats, with characters being a mix of good vs. bad. The clans have a hierarchy and the different cats have different positions within the clan. They have their own words for certain things; for instance a human is called a “twoleg”. I could go on and on about these books, but basically they are so interesting to my 9 and 11 year old that they can’t  put them down. They come across lots of descriptive words of which they don’t know the meaning, so these bookmarks are here to help!

When they come across a word that they don’t know, they can write it down on the bookmark and look it up later. (Because how dare they put the book down and look it up at the most interesting part!) I love that they are learning so many new adjectives!

The great thing about these is that they are two-sided so when they run out of room on the one side, they can flip it over and use the other.

I will tell you what I used and you can use what you have on hand. This is a no-fuss project and it doesn’t need to look perfect. It’s purely for function!

I used the following:

~ Ruled/Lined paper

~ White Card Stock found at craft stores or Target/Walmart (but you can use anything that is stiffer than the ruled paper to go in between; you can even use postcards from your junk mail pile!)

~ Glue Stick or some other type of glue for paper that won’t be too wet

~ Paper Trimmer – or – Ruler and X-acto knife or scissors

~ Hole Puncher

~ Thin ribbon, yarn, or string

~ Small pencil (like the ones from mini golf), mini marker, or crayon

~ Clear Adhesive Glue Dots or hot glue gun

Here’s how I made the bookmarks:

For each bookmark, I cut two pieces or ruled paper and one piece of white card stock to 2-1/4″ wide by 8″ long. (You can make yours any size, but just remember their writing is sometimes larger than ours.)

Then I took the glue stick and evenly glued one piece of the ruled paper to one side of the card stock. (Make sure to put the glue up to all the edges.) I smoothed it out so there were no air bubbles. I flipped it over and did the same to the other side with the second piece of ruled paper.

I punched a hole in the top, about 1/4″ down or to the first blue line.

I cut a piece of ribbon about 18″ long. Then I threaded one end of the ribbon through the hole and tied a knot.

For the other end, I took a mini marker and added a few glue dots (Zots) around it toward the bottom. Then I wrapped the other end of the ribbon around the glue, leaving some ribbon to tie another knot. (If you don’t have the adhesive glue dots, a dab of hot glue with a glue gun will work just fine.) I found that just tying the ribbon around the writing instrument didn’t hold it and kept slipping off.

Now my little readers were ready to start writing down words and looking them up!

By the way, if you have children about 9-12 that love animals and adventure, I recommend the Warriors books. When mine have finished reading all those, they plan on moving on to the Survivors series about dogs!

Have a good weekend!