Personalised 'letter' bookends

Product Information

Cut your dowel in half. Use your clay to shape it into an arrowhead onto a piece of the dowel. Bake in the oven as per instructions (the dowel can also go in the oven). You’ll need to scavenge some thrift stores to find your supplies – and if you can’t find punctuation marks, you can use letters, animals, or anything else you’d like instead – and grab some hammered aluminum spray paint from the hardware store to make these.

If you are reading this, you are definitely like me and don’t want to spend tons of money on something that holds up your books, whether it’s decor or not. Instead, you’d like to make it yourself. Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability. These bookends are great for both attractive complements around the home or for actual, functional bookends. You need some faux pineapples that you can add some filler to or that come solid – i.e. hardwood or hollow plastic you can fill – so that they can keep your books upright. With a DIY bookend, you can cater to your child's individual taste and get them involved in the process too. Simple wooden bookends just require two short lengths of wood which can be glued together and then decorated by little hands. Whatever you choose to make your DIY bookends out of they'll need to be heavy enough to hold up your books. You can add extra weight by using sand inside objects if needed. If these crafts are too advanced for pre-schoolers try these easy crafts instead. Kidadl is independent and to make our service free to you the reader we are supported by advertising.

Felt Rhino Bookends

These bookends are not only adorable, but they’re uber functional, too. If you drill in some holes, you’ve got bookend flower vases or pencil holders, to boot. You’ll need four pieces of wood, some wood stain, a plastic horse, a saw, glue, and fine sandpaper to create this super easy set of bookends. The instructions are easy to follow for anyone with basic woodworking skills. They’re super easy, very effective for keeping your books in place and add a unique charm that few other bookends could. Plus, they’re inexpensive to make. Group provides these instructions on how to make them, and specifically how to make them without burning yourself handling the hot vinyl. And they’re so easy that non-crafters can make them. There are tons of faux zinc letters around the internet. So the folks at Head Above Water decided to apply that concept to these adorable punctuation mark bookends. And they’re pretty easy for anyone to do.

Paint your rainbow on the wood and top with varnish. Kids could also paint the base and the side too for extra colour. But finding ones that you like – or choose to actually spend that kind of money on – can be rare. The right color, the right texture, the right style – they can all be so elusive. Be sure to choose an option that will be heavy enough for the books you’re planning to keep upright with them – i.e. don’t go for the uber decorative lightweight ones if you’re planning to keep those med school textbooks under control. And always have with experimentation as you work with the plans. If you are an avid reader, book collector, or even video gamer you probably could use at least one good set of bookends to organize your books or games.If you’ve got some old phones lying around in the attic, know a good thrift store that always has some on hand, or just love decorating with something just a little different, then you’ll love this telephone bookend set. Cheer up a child's bedroom with these cheery DIY bookends. Adults will need to handle the cutting of the wood but children will be able to decorate the bookends themselves. Using a sharp craft knife carefully slice your dinosaur in half. Now reposition each half on to the bookends and glue in place. If you’re into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC comics, or generally just love a good superhero, you’ll want to make these Superhero bookends. They’re inexpensive and pretty easy to make. You need a little drawing skill or at least the ability to Google printable designs for your superhero cutouts. As craft ideas go we love this bookends DIY idea for its simplicity. You can use a pair of plain wooden bookends and transform them into DIY bookends.

These painted animal bookends combine elements of multiple other bookends on this list for a unique twist you’ll love. They’re simple to make, add some fun texture to a room, and supplies are pretty inexpensive and easy to locate. What’s better than a DIY project that’s beautiful and useful? Pretty much nothing. These gorgeous letter bookends are perfect for any home decorating style. You can choose whatever pattern you like – floral, Fleur-de-lis, stripes, polka dots, plaid, whatever you find – to craft your own perfect bookends. This easy DIY project makes use of the books you already have at home, to turn them into bookends that are invisible to the eye! DIY bookends like these are great if you're short on space as they're slim and will blend in. Dip your vinyl into the boiling water until it's malleable – you can submerge it as far as you like depending on how you want your bookends to look at the end.

Starry Tea Light Votive Bookends

Got a kid that loves animals? Why not work on these animal bookends together – these DIY bookends are easy to pull together and use items that you probably already have at home.