[chteacher]

I've seen neat trivets done at this grade level and younger.

what you do is get some beans, different colored ones, and the kids put them onto a thin piece of wood precut of course in the size that you want. They glue them on. You spray them after they are dried with a varnish. So they turn out shiny.

Try to get the surfaces level so that hot pots have a place to rest. But really if they aren't flat is is okay.