It used to be that, if a child wanted to sit in the living room and write with chalk, he or she would have to carry around a wood-framed or plastic-framed chalkboard. Times have changed, though, and a chalkboard can be anything from a cup to a toy box. But if your kid likes to carry around a method of drawing or writing, he or she will especially love a chalkboard writing tablet. Whether the child loves to draw, color, or spell, it’s the perfect way to do so.
Now that someone has come up with chalkboard cloth it makes it very easy to make anything from a chalkboard pillow, to a chalkboard journal. Your child will love the journal and, maybe when you finish with it, you can then make the pillow, or other cloth items. Start with a piece of cardboard to make the journal and you can create just the one that your child will love.
When you bend a piece of cardboard, you can create the front and back cover, as well as the spine, for the homemade book. A straight edge, like the side of a table, can help you create crisp folds in the cardboard. You don’t have to work with thick, bulky cardboard; thin cardboard will work fine.
After the shape of the book has been made from the cardboard, open it up, and cover the outside of it with a single piece of chalkboard cloth. Glue it on with white glue and trim to fit the cardboard. Now, on to the inside pages of the journal.
Make a stack of several chalkboard cloth pieces, so that they’re all identical, and so that they’ll fit perfectly into the covers that you’ve created. With the stack set up, apply glue to the left, vertical edge of each page, and stick them all together. The glue should be a very thin row, and near identical on each page. When it has dried, set the stack of pages inside the book, and apply glue to the whole left hand side of the stack. Push the spine up against the glue and allow to dry. After that, the book is finished.
The child can write on the cover(s), as well as the pages, or you can create a cover title. When you do so with a white paint pen, it looks similar to chalk, but is permanent. Your child will love the unusual journal, which can be erased and written on again, made just for him or her.
