Children's Bookshelf

This post is for my friend Christina. She wrote about wanting one of those bookshelves that Preschools use so you can see the front of books. They cost a surprising amount of money, so 7 years ago, when I taught Preschool for my first son, my fabulous husband made me one- and it wasn't that hard!

He cut three pieces of wood- two sides and a bottom. Then he screwed them together. I sewed fabric for the book slots (instead of wood shelves like most of the commercial bookcases). It was cheap muslin. It is in one long strip and every so often I sewed a pocket for a dowel to go through (5 pockets).  I don't know the measurements anymore- its been too long- I just made something up anyway. The further apart the pockets for the dowels are- the deeper the book pocket will be. I actually made different size book pockets (some books are taller than others). Then  slide the dowels through their pockets and screw into the frame.

I really like the book shelf for 2-3 year olds. My children sometimes climb on it like its a ladder though- but it hasn't broken.

Here's another idea I use and I didn't have to make anything for this one!

This was a bookshelf I found at a garage sale for 25 cents. I put a basket on each shelf. It doubles as a bookend and as a way to display books so you can see the covers. Sometimes I sort the books in the baskets by a series they are interested in, or with books I want to encourage them to pick. We keep our library books on top so they don't get mixed in.

Happy reading!!