07 Apr How to Create a Paper Sloyd Calendar

This next paper sloyd model, is perhaps the most difficult, yet most useful that we have made so far. Today we are making a paper sloyd calendar. It is Project #9 from the third year from the book, Paper Sloyd for Primary Grades by Ednah Anne Rich. We created this model in two parts – first the calendar leaves, and secondly the calendar back. The leaves will eventually be attached to the back, creating a very cute, yet functional desktop calendar.

Working with my children, we initially found this project quite challenging. First, was the problem of foolscap paper. Some of the instructions are given in terms of lines on a piece of foolscap paper. I remember a type of paper being called foolscap when I was young, but I had not heard the term for many years. We weren’t able to find anything still called foolscap, so we began measuring the lined papers that we had to find which was closest to the foolscap specifications. We finally settled on wide-ruled paper from our writing notebooks. The measurements are 1-2 mm off, but they were the closest we could find.

Materials Needed

• The book, Paper Sloyd for Primary Grades by Ednah Anne Rich
• A cutting mat
• Bristol Board, at least 5⅝” x 12″ in size. We used a 12″ x 12″ piece of thick, quality scrapbook paper.
• An Exacto knife
• A pencil
• Scissors
• A Sharpie or small-tipped marker
• A ruler
• Glue
• Wide Ruled Paper Sheets (Foolscap Paper)

Happy Handicrafts Video: How to Create a Paper Sloyd Calendar

We created calendar leaves for every month, the taped them to the calendar back with Washi tape. Washi tape is perfect because it is designed to stick well, and to peel off easily without leaving sticky residue. Every month, you will be able to remove the previous month by peeling off the Washi tape.

We put our little calendar in our school room, where it will be well used on a daily basis.

If you would like to follow along with us as we learn paper sloyd, we’d love for you to join us on our YouTube channel, Happy Handicrafts. We document our crafting here there, as well as on this blog. Our crafts are intended to be useful and to lead to the development of some skill. We gear our crafts toward homeschool families who teach the Charlotte Mason method, but all are certainly welcome to join. Come craft with us!