Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube!
How to Make Wooden Hall Passes for your Classroom
I’m so happy with how much I have been able to craft this summer! As I move closer to the school year, I thought making a craft for my classroom would be a great transition into a different phase of the year. As I prepare for reentry into my classroom, I am beginning to rethink how I will teach this year. One difference will be the number of students I allow to leave the room at one time. I decided that making hall passes for specific areas of the school would be a good way to limit student close interaction during this pandemic. Here is how to make wooden hall passes for your classroom.
Supplies
- Scrap wood (we are continuing to use the pallets my husband gets from work!)
- Saw
- Sandpaper
- Stain
- Cloth or brush for stain application
- Cricut machine
- Cricut Vinyl
- Small cup hooks
- Jute twine
- Command Strips
STEP ONE – Prepare the Wood
My husband was a big help during this process! He actually measured out, cut, sanded, and drilled everything for me. Easiest craft I have made thus far because of him. So here was his process.
He measured out the main panel to be about _______ inches long. He then measured the small boards so my passes would be ______ inches wide and about _______ inches long. This allowed for the passes to have enough room to hang from the main panel without hitting each other.
He then took a drill and made holes in the tops of the passes. Finally, with a sander, he smoothed out the rough edges. Viola! The wood was ready for me to take over.
STEP TWO – Staining and adding the Vinyl
I learned a lot during this part of the process making wooden hall passes for my classroom. First off, I ran out of my normal brushes and rags used to stain wood. I had left over sponge brushes so I tried using them. It worked ok, but the sponge brushes put on too much stain. It took forever to dry and I ended up wiping the boards down to try and remove some of the stain.
I think the stain application caused this next issue. Now, I do not own a Cricut, but my sister in law does! I bought the vinyl and brought it to her to help me figure all this out. We picked the fonts and the pictures, cut them out, and we ready to apply them to the board. This is where we encountered problems.
When applying the heat to transfer the vinyl to the boards, the stain heated up and started to sweat. This caused the vinyl to slip and crumple in places. We paused the application process and I decided to wait another day, thinking the stain just had to dry more. The next evening I attempted to apply the vinyl again. I experienced similar results. The stain would sweat, the vinyl would slip, and at some points, the stain bled into the vinyl. Overall, not the smoothest process, but I made it work.
STEP THREE – Add the Hanging Materials
Since this was a soft wood, it was really easy to twist the cup hooks into the bottom of the main panel. I cut the jute twine, thread it through the predrilled holes on the hall passes, and tied a simple knot at the top. To attach the hall passes to the wall, I simply put some Command Strips on the back and stuck it to a cabinet near my classroom door. That’s it! Even though I had a few struggles with the Cricut and vinyl, I think these wooden hall passes for my classroom turned out quite well!
What other craft projects could I make for my classroom? Give me your ideas in the comments below!
Like pallet projects? See another one of my pallet wood projects here!
That’s a good use of upcycling pallets to serve a safety function at school
Thank you so much for that positive feedback!
I love that you are using scrap wood for these. They came out so cute! These are so much nicer than the laminated paper ones I remember from school.
One of my old teachers actually had us carry a toilet seat 🤢 no thanks!
So cute! I love it. I can’t wait to read your other posts. I liked the layout of your blog too. How long have you been blogging?
I recently started my own blog where I post craft projects too, I hope you check it out! 🙂
Thank you so much!
Thank be been blogging for about 10 months now? Really got into craft blogging this summer. I will definitely check yours out!