Since my first year of teaching school to now, I have always loved taking books, magazines or videos out from the library. I have a huge cart that I carry in the library and my kids load it up with books and videos. Through all the years, I think I have had VERY few fines but most librarians make me nervous. I have not found many who smile. I think they are frustrated with my big pile of books and my kids in the background asking if they can "HOLD THEIR BOOK'"while she is scanning it.************
So to prevent fines and designating one spot for all the library books I have a basket. This is where all the books go and it has the date the books are due back at the library!
So you will need:
a sturdy basket, chalkboard, wood paint, brush, letters, ribbon and handy dandy glue gun!
#1 Paint the wood around the chalkboard and let dry. I would paint the basket a cute color but it will wear away with books coming in and out...so maybe not a good idea with the basket!
#2 Put your letters on...you can use scrapbook stickers that are very sticky or rub ons....
#3 Glue ribbon on the chalkboard back and tie to the basket. Then make a bow and hot glue it on....
#4 With a piece of chalk or these wonderful wet erase chalk marker...write your due date. If you use normal chalk it may rub off with the kids using the basket. However, the wet erase chalk is hard to rub off with hands...you need water to really get it off.
*Put your books in and there you Go! I have found that having a basket where kids can only take out one book at a time prevents lost books and fines!Happy Monday!
88 comments:
What a cute little basket....and a great idea...I am always after Nick about making sure he doesn;t lose track of his library books...and their due date!!
Hope you had a great weekend...and a nice date night:)
Lisa
This is a great idea!
When my kids were younger and we frequented the library every Thursday, each child had a tote bag they could fill with books, videos and tapes. Those were fun memories...
What a great idea! I definitely need to make one of these baskets for us. We practically live at the library.
LOVE your baked oatmeal!!!! It's my husband's (and mine) new favorite! Thanks for sharing.:) Lori
Great idea miss sandy toes. I was at first thinking that you were going to announce you were expecting a child and giving us the due date LOL....
Well, that being said, what a great idea. You could do this with movies and such too. Love it. Thanks for the tips.
What a great idea!!! Unfortunately, I can not say that we have had very few fines through the years. We had to make a rule that each person in the house could only check out two books at a time. After reading your post, I think we could try this and see what happens. I love the idea! Thanks for sharing.
That is too cute. What a great idea! I never have a problem with fines. I mainly read at work and the library is next door to the hospital. When I finish a book I take it over there after I get off of work. I can imagine with more than one family member utilizing the library it's hard to keep up with the due dates.
Look at you Mrs. craftypoo. I love the idea. we keep our books in a magazine rack... something like this would hang perfectly on the end.
Seriously, can you get any more creative? I LOVE this!! I need a due date basket. I'm so not the one who is good with due dates...lol...thank goodness my hubby does the bills! ha!
~melody~
That is the cutest idea...I'm always late with my return books so I hope that this idea helps!! I love it, its so neat and creative!!
What a wonderful idea!
Librarians make me nervous as well.
Alright...here you go with yet another great idea, making the rest of us "non-crafty people" look bad! :) For shame, for shame!!
This is a very good and cute idea. I'm sad to say, though, that we don't visit the library anymore. When my girls were younger, I used to take them every week, religiously. We had the best time! Now, they, of course, can get books from their school libraries or I order what we need from Amazon.
I love this idea! After reading your post I believe we are kindred hearts! My kids want to do the same thing with their books. Once a young male librarian remarked, "Your taking all of our books!"....That's what we are suppose to do right!
We are so in need of this at our house, as we are always at the 'book limit' and always scrambling to find them all. Thanks for the great idea!
One more thing...I was looking at your music selection and I LOVE "I will be here" By Steven Curtis Chapman. A friend sang it at our wedding 12 years ago. I haven't heard it in a while!
Thanks for the sweet reminder to give hubby an extra special hug and kiss this morning before he leaves for work - He sure is precious and I want to make sure he knows I appreciate all he does!
Thanks!
Allyson
What a fantastic idea! Practical AND attractive!!! Great job!
I thought I commented earlier, but I guess it didn't go through! (That's why the other comment starts with 'One more thing'.)
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love your and the photos of your family! And what a great idea these little baskets are. I can't wait to check out more of your crafty (and useful) ideas!
Allyson
That's a really good idea! It's hard to keep track of all the library books around here and I often end up with fines.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
That is soooo darn cute!!! I love it!
You are too cute! And that is such a great idea! A basket full of library books! I have a whole stack on my dresser as we speak, as well as an empty basket in the spare room. Do you see where I am going with this??
I jsut read your comment about football-I am laughing because Tin Man just took our five year old to the Lions game and got to go on the field and meet the players and refs. (He wants ME to take our seven year old next home game and do the field thing-he doesn't want me to miss out! Can't he just read my post and know I don't want to go???)Football is a way of life here-oh ooy!!!
That is such a good idea...but you teachers ALWAYS have the best ones! So is it something your born with or something acquired because of teaching? Kind of a chicken or the egg question...
Very clever!
I've rarely seen librarians smile too! How strange!
LOVE this idea! How fun is that? I am going to put this on my list to do. We love the library and visit often.
That's a great idea and thanks for telling me about wet erase! I can really use that on my chalkboard!
What a great idea my sister is a teacher I am going to have to tell her about this one!
Fabulous idea!!! I always seem to find myself on my hands and knees searching for lost books the day they are due! {{EEK}}
I'm gonna have to try this one out, thanks!
Angie
www.nanasboxnonprofit.blogspot.com
Grrrr...I goofed up my comment and I think it deleted. Anyway. I think this is a brilliant solution and it looks pretty too!
This is so cute and a great idea! Where do you find your ribbon?
What a fantastic idea. I always have a problem returning books on time. It's perfect! :-)
That is a fantastic idea. And cute too.
Now if I could only get my kids to bring back the one book they take away!
love this idea! thanks for sharing it with us!
Definitely love libraries!! We're lucky here...our children's librarian is THE BEST...very friendly and such a resource.
You're so creative! Everytime I come to your site I add another project to my to do list:-).
You must own stock in 'Michaels'!...LOL...Thanks for sharing all your great ideas.
Cute idea! Checkout my blog. I have something for you for being so creative!
I love that idea! I'm sure I owe a fine at the library now from keeping books too long!
Thanks for sharing,
Diane
This idea is wonderful and I am about to get to and create one of my own. Thanks for your lovely comments on my blog. I read your profile, and apart from the fact that you have the blessing of raising two girl, everything you wrote described me to a 'T'. It's kinda neat when that happens...
What an awesome idea! Well I'll be! Yep, our house needs one of those so off to get supplies we will go this week! Thank you a jillion times over! Hugs, Les
what a great basket! i will definately pass it along to my teacher friends, as i am no longer in the classroom. thanks so much for stopping by my blog. i am glad that you did and that i now know of your blog. i will be back for more great posts!
ps--congrats on your awards!
Cute idea!
PS Is your MM gone?
So cute! I love it! This reminds me that I have a fine from the library that I need to pay!
What a cute basket and great idea!!! LOVE it!!
What a great idea! I bet your home is filled with cute and creative ways to stay organized! Thanks for "always" thinking about blogging. :-)
What a cute idea!
What a great idea! I must admit I have late fines due at the library as I *write* this:)
What a great idea. I love it.
Very pretty - and so practical! Love it!
i love this too!
where on earth do you get all these great ideas!
gonna copy this too.
That's a great idea!
~Susan
Neat! My daughter can't borrow books from the library yet, but I like it!
We have a library basket but I think I need to add the chalkboard with the due date!! I am always racking up fines at the library!
What a great idea! :-)
How creative...my oldest needs this! A great Thanksgiving Holiday project...thanks to you ;-)
Jamie :)
p.s. happy SITS day...
This sounds like a good idea. I have so many baskets I don't know what to do with them. Maybe I'll get one and use this idea for my husband and me. We go to the library just about every week and often have books that are due on different days.
I love your blog and am now following you and am adding you to my blogrolls!
Congrats on your SITS day!
Practical and aesthetically pleasing! :o)
Happy SITS day!
What a cute basket, and an awesome idea!
Now, THAT is a great idea - functional and totally cute!
what a great idea!!!!! and very cute too!!!!!
How cute is that?!
Very cute idea! ~Lanie
Nifty idea!! Another to add to my list :)
Happy Hump Day SITStah!!
~Working Mommy
Come on by, stay for a while and leave a comment or two!
Great idea! Very handy.
What a great idea!!! I'm so going to do this!!!! Thanks for sharing and happy SITS day!
That is a cute idea!!
Loved your blog.
I am following:)
Hope you visit mine!
xo
I definitely need one of those baskets! Usually I use the return receipt as a bookmark, so I always know the due date, but when I lose it I'm all confused.
Now that's a good idea! :)
Very cute idea...I am not very good at library book returning, but it could be that our library doesn't have fines...sometimes I wish they did, because I know I'd do so much better!:)
Great idea! I am horrible at returning things on time. I should make one of these for movie rentals.
Great idea! I'm a huge fan of books and libraries too. We're so lucky to have 'HAD' the most wonderful group of friendly and patient librarians around at our little local library, which sadly is facing closure due to our town's fiscal woes. I'm loving that "wet-erase" marker -- new to me! I'm going to have to get one of those post haste!
What a great idea! Where were you 20 years ago? :-)
I used to spend the day before searching the house for all the books that were due back.
What a great idea!! I just spent a good 20 minutes yesterday rounding up all of our library books from around the house and I even thought that I need a place to put them. I am so doing this! (maybe after the holidays though)
Like that idea! I'd never heard of wet erase CHALK before! Gotta go look for some now! Happy SITS day foryou!
sweetjeanette.blogspot.com
love love love the idea! thanks for sharing!
~ marit
Great idea!
That's a super cute idea but I have to admit that I am so excited about that wet erase chalk! I'm definitely going to have to look for that!
Great Idea!
PS: I'm studying to be a librarian now and I promise to smile at moms whose kids want to hold books while I scan them :)
Wet erase chalk markers?! How am I just now finding out that these exist?!
what a lovely idea. I confess we've been avoiding the library because of the whole having to hunt through the house for them on d-day. That and that my youngest has taken to ripping pages out of the books... yiii and yes some of those librarians can be scary ;)
One word...BRILLIANT. Because I always forget which books are the library books and I have NO idea when they are due back. You are my hero!
Alex
As an Assistant Librarian (in the Children's Room), I'd like to commend you for your organization. You'd be surprised, but most mom's are actually really good at getting their kid's library books back on time. And I'm sorry you haven't met many smiling librarians. I assure you, I am very used to kids trying to hold on the books while I scan them and I ALWAYS smile and say something kind. I promise. I wish you could visit "my" library!
This is a good idea. I usually just plaster the receipt with due dates to the fridge but I always forget to look at it until usually the day AFTER they were due!
My best, Lynn
Not only is that a smart idea but it's a cute one, too! Nice job!!
What a great idea! Happy SITS day!
Happy SITS day!
Another great idea! When I'm back in the classroom, I hope I remember this one! (Although I could definitely use it at home too!)
Very clever idea!
Very crafty idea!
So smart! You are a clever woman! Cute to boot.
@cheapchichome.blogspot.com
Isn't the library great! I also get all my stuff from our library. So cool!!
That is a good idea. Our stuff is all over the place!
That's a great idea! Now if only I had a library I could use it.
Cute blog. Happy SITS day.
great idea. I also have to get in the habit of taking a reusable shopping bag to the library to prevent my hands from being overloaded while also trying to keep up with a toddler.
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