The current issue of American Girl Magazine has this fun idea for a little “study spot” for your kids made from a cardboard tri-fold display board. So, the girls and I decided to make one for each of them. We had a lot of fun with this project. (You can see that our copy of the magazine is well loved.)
You can buy a tri-fold display at a craft store. I bought one (it was 36″ x 48″) and cut it in half, horizontally to have two shorter ones. (Of course, you can also just cut up a big box). The displays come in colors or in white – the colors were too bright for me, so I bought a white one and covered it with different scrapbook papers.
Rosa’s Homework Corner
After that, it’s a matter of choosing various envelopes and little bags to glue to the display for holding pencils, bookmarks, notepads and anything else you can think of. I have these great, large presentation envelopes by Paper Source (holding Anorak Magazine in the above photo, and the American Girl Magazine in the photo below) which we decorated with stickers.
I had some plastic pages that hold photos and art, which I clipped to the top of the display (you can also find plastic pages that hold trading cards, or simply use a sheet protector).
Elena’s Homework Corner
We’re not quite done with it yet – we want to make a little memo board on the left side from cork coasters or something similar. I used spray glue for this whole project, by the way.
If space is a premium in your house, like it is in mine, the great thing about these study spots is that they fold right up (including the bag holding the pencils, if you glue it correctly) for easy storage.
Right after I saw the American Girl Magazine version, I also stumbled across this sweet Martha Stewart version:
Now, I’ll be interested to see if these homework corners are actually helpful or a distraction to getting homework done!
goodtogrow said,
September 27, 2010 @ 10:43 am
What a great idea. They reminded me of my 6th-grade teacher Mrs. Chesser, who had us bring in cardboard boxes for our own special desk area. We could decorate them any way we wanted. Do you remember that? My all time favorite teacher.
Katherine marie said,
September 30, 2010 @ 1:05 pm
I love your version!! I’ve seen them in ff magazine too…
Kellie said,
October 30, 2010 @ 11:45 am
So fabulous! We saw this idea too. Now my daughter is really inspired to make one. Thanks for sharing.
Sarah said,
August 26, 2011 @ 8:16 am
Family fun has a version too.
Rishana said,
November 9, 2011 @ 4:18 pm
We used to do this in class,but with all of our books to make a privacy wall around our desk and it was so fun! I can’t wait to make this for my 10yr old son-he will love it. Yes,it’ll be interesting to see if its a distraction from doing his homework or not!
Gwen said,
April 7, 2012 @ 3:59 am
cool. craft is a never ending world of fancy. you can enjoy it as much as you like. love it
marissa san juan said,
July 29, 2012 @ 8:30 pm
thanks for sharing..i’ll tell my sister in-law to make this one an art project for her Gr.3 class
Molly said,
July 29, 2012 @ 8:35 pm
Thank you, Marissa!
marissa san juan said,
July 30, 2012 @ 7:54 am
You’re welcome,Ms. Molly. I told her already and she loved your homework corner, too. She’s a Grade School Teacher…She loved new ideas for her students :’)
Pinterest Picks: Back to School Edition | Dollar Store Mom Frugal Fun – Crafts for Kids said,
August 3, 2012 @ 12:26 pm
[...] This is awesome for you homeschooling families, and for an instant after-school homework station! via Charlotte’s Fancy [...]