Although our oldest has moved onto middle school this past fall, our twins are still in grade school. Their school has a strict policy against sending in sweets for birthdays, so I always send in non-food goodie bags. Since their birthdays are in January, one of the coldest months of the year, I try to send in themed activity kits the children can do (if they choose to) during indoor recess. This year, I decided to make Newspaper Reporter Activity Kits for the twins' goodie bags because they are in the middle of studying non-fiction in both their classrooms. They were so easy to make and the possibilities are endless for what types of inspiration you would like to include in the kits.
What you'll need to make Newspaper Reporter Activity Kits . . .
12"x18" Newsprint Paper (3 sheets per kit)
News Reporter Word Search (Free printable below)
DIY Personalized Press Passes (Free printable below)
After you have everything you need, there is some assembly required for the actual newspaper and the press passes. I created the word search puzzle shared below with the help of Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker.
For the newspaper: I folded 3 sheets of newsprint paper together in half once and then in half a second time so that they resembled a newspaper folded into quadrants.
For the press passes: I saved the digital image of the sheet of press passes onto my computer and used a graphics program to add the first and last names of each child. You could also simply write the name of each child on the paper with a thin marker. Then I cut out the press passes and slid each one into a clear gaming card sleeve protector.
After I put all the contents into each bag, I used a paperclip to secure each child's press pass on the outside of the bag. Please note that the 8.5"x12" bags fit a standard piece of paper perfectly, so it may take some patience to get the paper to sit flat, but it can be done.
With the stickers provided, the children can be inspired to write news stories about who won the big game, who their favorite Star Wars or Big Hero 6 characters rescued this week, or even fashion editorials using Monster High stickers for the photos. Our son, who is a huge Star Wars fan, decided to dedicate his newspaper to Star Wars and what he would imagine a newspaper would be like during those times.
Print the DIY Press Passes and News Reporter Word Search Puzzle below . . .
TO PRINT: Click on the desired image to enlarge. Then right click and select print. Use your browser's back arrow to return to this page, if needed.
Like this goodie bag activity idea? Pin it for later . . .
Check out last year's DIY Comic Book activity goodie bags . . .
Have some ideas about other things that could go in a Newspaper Activity Kit for kids? Share them with us in a comment here.
