This September (why so late, Texas?), both of my children will be heading down the street to the Mother's Day Out preschool program, or, as one commenter once referred to it, "glorified babysitting." Just for the record, it isn't glorified babysitting; my daughter learned much more during her time there than I ever planned on, something I can't say from other babysitters we've used.

Now that is off my back...my kids are heading over to Mother's Day Out next month. We got my son a nice, plain backpack that I'm hoping we can resell when he's done (yeah, right.) because I'm as cheap as they come. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking about how hard that little boy is on his things, so maybe we won't be selling it once he's done.

Hmm. Okay. On to the craft! You have a kid! And a backpack! Both are heading off to school! What should you do? Make a tag for your backpack!

Here's what you need:

• Shrinkable plastic (aka Shrinky Dink or Poly Shrink)
• Markers, colored pencils and such
• Stamp pad
  
• Key rings
• Sandpaper

Follow the directions on the plastic if it needs to be sanded. Decorate the plastic with the markers; I'm thinking "This is Johnny's bag so get yo' grubby paws off" would be a nice touch. Use the stamp pad to make an image on the tag to be colored in with said markers. Cut out the tag and make a very large hole for the key ring. Follow instructions to bake the plastic. Attach to key ring and put on backpack.