Your Favorite Football Player

What can we use if we don't have a computer, ruler, or glue for this trading card project?

If you don't have a computer use a book or smartphone to research the player's position and three stats, use a straight edge like a hardcover book or cereal box edge instead of a ruler to draw the rectangle with pencil, and substitute double-sided tape or clear tape for glue when you want to stick the rectangle onto another piece of paper to make the card thicker.

My portrait looks messy and the rectangle edges are uneven—what should I do to fix them?

If the top-half portrait is messy, lightly erase and redraw or trace a photo before coloring with your coloring materials, and straighten uneven rectangle edges by re-measuring with your ruler or straight edge and carefully trimming with scissors so the card sits flat when you glue it and press flat.

How can we adapt this activity for different age groups?

For younger children pre-draw rectangles on a scrap piece of paper and let them color, add stickers for team colors, and dictate a simple sentence for the biography, while older kids can use a computer or book to research three detailed stats, sketch a more realistic portrait with pencil, and write a 2 to 3 sentence short biography.

How can we extend or personalize the trading card after coloring and gluing?

To enhance the card add extra team colors and small decorations like stars or stripes around the edges, write bonus stats or a fun fact on the back, reinforce it by gluing the rectangle onto another piece of paper and covering it with clear packing tape as a DIY laminate, and then share the finished trading card on DIY.org.