How To Use Your NSW Back to School Vouchers

December 24, 2022

Life of Colour is happy to announce we are now accepting your Back to School vouchers to provide our mess-free, high-quality art products for your children

Parents, guardians, carers or students themselves can apply for 3 x $50 Back to School vouchers, totalling $150 for each eligible student. Get more information to apply for your Back to School vouchers.

You can use your voucher/s to purchase ANY art material from Life of Colour, and you will be prompted to add your voucher number in the cart.

We have created a few ready-made bundles based on specific activities, but you are free to shop any art supplies that will help your children have a great school year, including mess-free any surface paint pens, chalk pens, watercolour brush pens, gel pens, paint stix, accessories and more!.

Back to School Bus Photo Frame

The first day of school and returning to school after a long holiday break is a special time for children. Reuniting with special friends, making new friends and meeting their teachers for the first time should be commemorated with a photograph that is displayed in an awesome handmade picture frame.

Materials

Paddlepop and matchsticks
Scissors
Life of Colour Essential Brush Paint Pens
Scrap cardboard
Back to School Photographs
Craft Glue

Step one- Gather your paddle pop and matchsticks and colour them yellow, silver and black using your Life of Colour brush pens.

Step two-Cut out a square piece of cardboard to use as the backing of your school bus. Colour two circles silver for the bus headlights and two small rectangles red for the bus flashing lights.

Step three-Paste your photograph onto the centre top section of the bus and arrange the yellow paddle pop sticks around the photo(depending on the size of the photo you will need to cut the paddle pop sticks to fit). Add the silver sticks at the bottom to make the bumper.

Step four-Attach the headlights and warning in place and add a number plate.

Step five-Glue black wheels in place and a string on the back of the top to hang your “Back to school” frame.

Self Portrait Wall

A sense of belonging in the classroom is of great importance in order for students to feel safe, supported and enhances their overall wellbeing. We found the perfect self-portrait activity from Art Teacher Life that can easily achieve all of these things.

Sourced from Art Teacher Life

Step one-Ask your students to bring a photograph of themselves to school and allow them to enlarge the picture using the photocopy machine.

Step two-Use a light box with the photo on top of the light box and a fresh piece of art paper layered over the top to allow the children to trace their main facial features from the photograph.

Step three-Paint the images and the whole page with assorted colours using Life of Colour Floral Brush pens. Carefully cut around the edges of the portrait and cut out geometric shapes like triangles, diamonds and circles. Use a fresh piece of art paper and paste the portrait down and add the shapes to the background.

Step four-Display the images together upon a wall.

Gouache Stix Beautiful Blooms Card

Get ready to kick the year off positively with a flower blooming card to celebrate the growth to come in the classroom.

The colour components were completed quickly and easily using the creamy Life of Colour Gouache stix, the solid colours simply glide across the page and the blending is even easier!

Materials

Life of Colour Gouache Paint Stix
Scissors
Cardboard
Cardstock
Life of Colour 1mm Black Paint Pen

Step 1-On different sized pieces of cardboard sketch a variety of leafy formations

Step 2-Take out your greens (including aqua) and blend them together to paint your greenery. Use graduating sized cardboard squares and colour them in a rainbow spectrum

Step 3-Wait for the paint to dry which will be next to no time at all! Take the fine black paint pen to trace over the top of the leafy shapes

Step 4-Carefully cut out the greenery and preliminary place them around the edge of the card to allow overhang for effect.

Step 5- Using the coloured cardboard cut out various flower shapes and place them from biggest to smallest onto the card (don’t glue it down yet!)

Step 6-Play around with the flowers until you are pleased with the results and then glue everything into place.

Step 7-Cut some of the coloured cardboard squares into circles and cut a slit into the centre. Curve the cut edges into a cone shape and glue at least five together to make the centre of the flower complete!

Step 8- Scribe growth affirmations on the inside of the card, we have a few that you might like to use-

“You are blooming everyday”

“You are ready to grow”

“ A bloom a day brightens your way”

Dotted flower bag tag

The Life of Colour Dot pens are so simple to use on wooden surfaces and wood slices- in fact all ages will enjoy crafting with them. Search for the NSW Back To School Vouchers and Life of Colour bundle that contains the dot pens included and get busy creating!

Back to School Apple Name Badge

Use your NSW Back to School Vouchers to purchase Life of Colour boutique art supplies such as the Silky Stix and you can make name badges to make your child’s first day a breeze!

Step one-Sketch the shape of an apple, rectangle and two leaves. Cut all of the shapes out.

Step two-Use the red silky stix to glide colour over the back of the apple and attach a safety pin using a scrap piece of paper.

Step three-Slide the silky smooth stix across the face of the apple to give it a bright red appearance. Paint the leaves green using blended greens together.

Step four-After the paint on the apple is dry add a cute face along with a neatly printed name tag and complete the black detailing to finish it off. Glue the green leaves in place and the name tag is ready to be worn.

Rainbow Sprinkles Pencil Case

Get ready to go back to school with all of your colourful accessories just like this painted Rainbow Sprinkles pencil case. Sketch a donut shape onto the centre of a blank pencil case and add splashes of colour and sprinkles all over it using a set of Rainbow Life of Colour paint markers.

Scary Shark Lunch Box with Chrome highlights

We searched high and low for a shark patterned lunchbox to no avail, so with our NSW Back to School Voucher we purchased a set of Life of Colour Paint pens to make our own.

Step one-Use a piece of carbon paper to transfer your child’s chosen image onto their lunchbox.

Step two-Provide your child with a set of Life of Colour Acrylic Paint Markers and allow them to paint the image.

Step three-Add Chrome pen highlighting around the edge and background along with a mixture of colourful spots everywhere.

Wild Things Leaf Crown

This is the perfect example of how to make use of the natural resources found in the environment along with your Life of Colour products purchased with a NSW Back to School Voucher. Curious Columbus collected both dried and fresh leaves to paint them using the Life of Colour Chalk pens and then fashioned them into a crafty wild things leaf crown.

Art Sourced from Curious Columbus

Step one-Collect large leaves from the playground or backyard.

Step two-Paint the leaves with bright and colourful designs using the Life of Colour Chalk pens.

Step three- Stick the leaves in between two strips of wide masking tape and fasten into a circular crown shape.

Affirmation Kindness Stones

Spreading kindness in and around the classroom can have an amazing effect on the welfare of children all around the world. Encourage children to share messages of their personal and worldly values and beliefs then gather these aspirations to paint the messages onto Life of Colour stones.

Step one-Paint the stones white to “prime” them ready for painting with a set of Life of Colour Essential brush pens.

Step two-Blend dark and light green together to complete the background

Step three-Layer a flying dove holding a feather over the top of the green background and add flowers, leaves, a world globe and white hearts surrounding the dove.

Step four-Write your affirmation message or words to spread kindness around the world.

Chrome mirror effect shoes

The Life of Colour Chrome pens are perfect for jazzing up a plain pair of shoes. The stunning mirror shine will have heads turning to check out your child’s shoes on their first day back to school.

Step one-Clean your shoes off with a damp cloth to remove any dirt and dust.

Step two-Wipe the shoes over with a completely dry cloth then plan your design and decide upon the colour scheme and design that you would like to use- we chose to use gold and silver block panelling to complement the white sole, laces and heel of the shoes.

Step three-Get busy designing with your Chrome pens, use nice strokes painting along in the same direction. Once the shoes are dry give them a light spray with a clear acrylic spray.

Fabric Pen Coloured Library Bag

We have “ready to colour” tote bags available for your child to use in conjunction with their Life of Colour Fabric pen set. Simply hand over the two products and watch them paint away! All you need to do is to add their name somewhere on the tote and you have their first Library Day sorted!

Galaxy STEM Activity

Ensuring that every opportunity is made for children to include fun STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning experiences using a voucher from NSW Back to School, we have chosen this planet diorama sourced from Minimadthings on Instagram. Purchase some Life of Colour Boutique Art Supplies along with using recycled cardboard and paper to create this unique space activity.

Image sourced from minimadthings.

Step one-Cut out large rounds of cardboard and paint them with spacy colours like black, blue, white and pink from the Life of Colour Silky Stix collection.

Step two-Layer coloured planets, rockets and stars over the top of the background. These can be created from stencils or hand drawn using compasses to include mathematical applications into the artwork.

Step three-Use Life of Colour Dot markers or Chrome pens to add stars and constellations across the spacy sky.

Upcycled School Bag

Turn last year's tired old school bag into this year's new trend by painting funky colours, patterns and designs onto it using a set of Life of Colour acrylic paint pens.

Make your Art portfolio bag “sing” with pride as you walk through the school halls carrying it proudly showing off original designs that have been personally painted.

Art by Kylie Hillier

What is the NSW Back to School program?

Save on school supplies for 2023 with a Back to School Voucher, provided by Service NSW.

Eligible parents, guardians, carers or students can apply for 3 x $50 vouchers, totalling $150 for each eligible student.

Where can I use my vouchers?

The vouchers can be used across a range of school supplies including uniforms, books, stationery and of course, Life of Colour art supplies!

We are excited to bring all the colour to Back to School!

How to use your Back to School Vouchers with Life of Colour:

Choose one of our Back to School bundles valued at $50 or simply shop any items from our store and checkout using either 1 or all 3 of your vouchers (you can pay the difference on credit card, PayPal or Afterpay).

Shop our Back to School range