Back to School Locker Mirror Craft

Send your kids back to school this year with a cute personalized mirror to keep them smiling every time they open their school locker. This easy craft makes a great gift to send with your child on her first day of school or is perfect for an after school activity during that first week. Decorate the back to school locker mirror with craft items to reflect your child's personal taste or let them unleash their creativity during craft time.

First, check your local craft store for unfinished mirrors in a variety of shapes and sizes. You can choose a larger mirror or make several smaller mirrors to hang together. If you go with one big locker mirror stick to craft mirrors no wider than eight inches to fit most locker doors. The length can go as long as 12 inches, but check with your child's school for a locker door measurement to be safe.

Instead of just doing one main locker mirror, you can also do a mirror arrangement. Craft mirrors are available in a variety of shapes, like hearts, stars, diamonds, and circles. Choose three to five small shaped mirrors and hang them all over the inside locker door for a designer look.

Decorating your locker mirrors is easy with simple craft materials. Paint and glue thin, flat wood sticks around the edges for a border. Or place the mirror on a thick craft paper with a cool design. Trace around the mirror leaving a one to two inch border. Cut out the craft paper and glue the mirror to the center so the border sticks out around the edges.

Look for fun stickers or craft cut-outs with colors, shapes and designs your child will dig. There are tons of sports themed craft scrapbook materials even available for specific national and college teams. Or look for designed paper in your child's school colors. Use scrapbook letter stickers to spell out your child's name, nickname, favorite team or school sports team jersey number.

Use spray-on frost paint to create a designer frosted border around the mirror. Or use clear nail polish with glitter for a shiny addition to the craft. Solid colors of nail polish also leave a shiny, glossy look when used to paint on letters, hearts, stars or other shapes.

Consider including a Bible verse or other inspirational quote for your child to see every time they open their locker door. You can also use photos of your child and their friends, pets, or family members to remind them of happy memories. Small photos of their favorite musicians, bands, writers or actors can also help inspire them and lift their spirits during a hectic day.

When you and your child are satisfied with the locker mirror's décor, attach heavy magnets to the back for hanging. Magnetic tape will probably be too weak to hold the mirror to the locker, so choose heavier individual magnets. Be sure to place one in each corner for the most strength. Larger, heavier mirrors may required additional magnets in the center and along each side. Don't be afraid of using too many magnets on the back. Locker doors get slammed throughout the day, and the more magnets the less likely your mirror craft will be to end up shattered on the floor.

Many lockers also have small hanger hooks on the inside of the door. You can include a ribbon loop at the top of the mirror craft to hang from the inside.