Back-to-school ribbon notebooks

Inspire young writers with these ribbon-decorated notebooks.

You'll Need

  • Spiral notebook
  • Ribbon in cooordinating colors
  • Scissors
  • Pen to hang from ribbon

Learning Stages


By Becca Ross
Kindergarten & First Grade Teacher

Becca is a schoolteacher and blogs at homeiswheremystorybegins.com. She loves to cook, bake, garden, sew, quilt, teach and simply spend time with her family. She strives to find art in everyday things.

I think my obsession with back-to-school supplies connects to the fact that I’m a teacher, but I know there are many other people out there just like me. My daughter and I were at the office supply store the other day and couldn't resist the brightly colored notebooks. We picked up two notebooks, a pack of fun color-changing pens and some ribbon. In just a short amount of time we had some really fun notebooks for back to school!

How to make the notebook

  • Choose your spiral notebook, any size will do
  • Choose a few pieces of ribbon, any color or pattern will do
  • Cut the ribbon into pieces and tie them to the spiral of the notebook
  • Trim the tied ribbon your desired legnth 
  • Optional: cut a longer piece of ribbon, tie one end to the notebook and the other end to a colorful pen

A few ideas for using the notebook

  • A journal
  • Science notebook to record observations
  • Message book for writing notes back and forth with your child
  • Gratitude journal: Each day, write 3 things that made your day great
  • To-Do notebook: Make lists of things that need to be done each day
  • Sketch pad
  • Project journal
  • Back-to-school gifts for friends or teachers