This is a little chalk board that I made at home for the kids to use at preschool…
I am not a natural crafter or woodworking kind of gal so there are probably better ways to make this but this worked very well for me and the kids love it…
I found this little wooden frame set in the Walmart woodworking craft section. It is supposed to be used as a picture frame to hang on the wall but as soon as I saw it I could only visualize it as a chalkboard :)…
Each of the square wood pieces comes out and I painted the front and back of each wooden square with black chalkboard paint. This was my first experience using chalkboard paint but just let me say that once you get some you start to think everything should be painted with chalkboard paint…
I also painted the inside of the large frame with chalkboard paint and the outside with a pretty red acrylic paint…
I let it all dry overnight and then took it to preschool to share with the kids to see what they would do with it…
The chalk worked terrific on the painted boards and I gave each child a damp sponge that they could use to wash off their chalk. I found a dry eraser or sponge didn’t wash the chalk off as well as a damp sponge and each child really wanted their own “eraser” …
The children liked having their own chalk board to write on. One little boy who is usually over in blocks or sand play spent the entire time writing on his chalk board instead…
One child asked the teacher how to make a B so the teacher used the big chalk board to show her…
Oh, and by the way – I made two sets of these – a blue one and a red one. I have one more that I plan to make as well only I am going to put magnetic paint under the chalk board paint…
Some of the children liked putting the square pieces back together inside the bigger frame. I think with more time at play with this, there are many other potential activities like memory or making our own chalkboard puzzles that we can try but first we just explore…
The only thing I need to probably do is sand the edges of the little boards a little better. The children didn’t have any problem with it but to me they felt a little rough…
So for a very non-woodworking craft person, I was very happy with my first DIY chalkboard for the classroom…
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Here are some other DIY classroom tools you can check out…
DIYÂ Make Your Own Easter Grass by Teach Preschool
DIY Play dough People by Teach Preschool
Make your own mini clipboards by Let’s Explore
Home made dot stampers by Counting Coconuts
Bottle lid stamps by A Little Learning for Two
DIY Stamps by Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning
Construction Activity Board by Counting Coconuts
DIY light box by No Time for Flashcards
DIY Felt Board for Babies from Made by Joel
Make your own Flannel Board by Oopsey Daisy
Travel felt board by Mama Smiles
Simply Made Felt Board by Totally Tots