The Outrageously Fun Pencil Holder Craft Your Kids Will Desperately Beg To Make
Kids can make a pencil holder from a cleaned tin can by hot-gluing craft sticks vertically around the outside. That’s it. The base project is almost stupidly easy. Decoration is where things get interesting — washi tape, cut felt mosaics, even hand-drawn kawaii faces turn a basic can into something weirdly personal. Younger kids thrive with a no-rules approach, while older ones obsess over neat patterns. The creative finishing techniques below make the whole thing absurdly fun.
Every kid needs a spot to stash their pencils, and a tin can pencil holder craft is about as straightforward as it gets. Rip off the label, scrub the thing clean, and make sure someone removes that jagged top edge completely. Nobody wants a trip to the emergency room over a pencil holder. That’s the baseline.
Once the can is prepped, the real chaos begins. Craft sticks are the go-to move. A hot glue gun bonds them vertically to the can’s surface, lined up flush with the top and bottom edges. The pattern repeats around the circumference until there’s almost no space left. Almost. Because there’s always that awkward gap at the end where a stick needs trimming. It’s annoying. But it works. For the overachievers, embroidery floss and letter beads strung across the sticks add a monogram detail that makes the whole thing feel personal.
Then there’s the popsicle stick construction method, which is a different beast entirely. Sixteen large popsicle sticks form the framework. Construction paper strips get rolled and glued into circular bases, cut about half an inch apart at the bottom. A paper plate circle reinforces the base so pencils don’t punch straight through. Pencil erasers help stabilize everything during assembly. It’s fiddly. Kids love it anyway.
Washi tape decoration sounds simple. It is not. Covering individual popsicle sticks with tape demands patience, precision, and a tolerance for imperfection. Loose sticks happen. Tape wrinkles happen. Multiple color combinations keep things interesting, though, and the personalization options are basically endless. The blog also offers a FREE printable list so parents can prep all the necessary supplies before sitting down with their kids.
Felt appliqué takes a different approach. Cut felt into random shapes, glue them onto the container in mosaic patterns. Younger kids especially thrive with the no-rules placement style. Rainbow felt selections mean unlimited design possibilities. Hot glue or craft kit adhesives handle the bonding.
For the seasonal crowd, colored paper templates shaped like melons and pineapples exist. Green, white, red for watermelon vibes. Yellow and green for pineapple. Free printable templates make it painless.
Optional finishing touches include hand-drawn kawaii designs, marker embellishments, and — seriously — perfume spray. Because apparently pencil holders need to smell good now. The whole point of these projects is to encourage creativity and resourcefulness by turning recycled containers and basic supplies into something kids actually want to use.
