complied and submitted by Sherri Caldwell
These ideas where shared and complied from the Work At Home Mom's (WAHM) Mailing list.
I wanted to put up a big rectangle of corkboard for Zach to put all his art projects and special things on (he is a big collector of little pieces of scrap--stickers, tickets, pictures, etc.), but my husband was totally against the idea of pushpins for a 2 1/2 year old, which actually makes a lot of sense.. so I asked for alternatives from the WAHM Mailing List. This is a compilation of those alternative. Enjoy!
1. Maybe this is too crazy - but how about a piece of sheet metal and fridge magnets? I think you can get this pretty inexpensively at the hardware, building-type stores.
2. I may have an idea to the alternative to push pins. At church in the class rooms on the chalk board,(actually dry erase boards) they have these clips that you can hang pictures for the lessons. I was thinking that if you had a section of wall that you wanted to use, you could take and string yarn or other string across at different horizontal lengths, (like a clothes line) and Zack could use clothes pins to hang his works of art or treasures. Let me know if this sounds like a good idea. I myself am going to get enough of that cork board to cover a section of the wall. I figure if it is up high enough, the kids won't bother it. But my idea I just gave you could be a good alternative (?)
3. Try velcro. You can get the kind that has a sticky backing. I get mine at Wal-Mart or a fabric store. You could stick (or glue for permanence) one side to the cork board and stick the other side to the paper your son wants to display. You wouldn't even need cork board. You could use a piece of poster board.
4. There is this stuff at Wal-Mart and similar stores which is kind of like putty that you can hang posters and such on walls and is removable. I can't think of the name of it but I think it is in the office/school supply department with the push pins. I don't know if it would work on corkboard, but you could give it a try.
5. Wow. Listen to your husband on this one. Did you know that tacks, if swallowed by a little one, can stick in the throat and act like a valve? Like, it can let the air out of the little person, then flip closed when he tries to breath in. It will work the same way if someone is trying to give CPR. Tacks are terribly dangerous.
As an alternative, how about that stuff that is like clay. You pull a piece of it off, and it acts like clay. Or maybe some double sided tape. You could save a little money here, instead of buying a cork board, maybe a nice large, decorated poster board.
Hope you find something that works. It's important to make their space their space!
6. Sorry, I don't know the name of this but most any teacher could probably tell you. There is a restickable glue (similar to that used in post-it notes as well as a substance that looks like putty and is also reusable for tacking things up. You may need to get a white board for Zach instead of a corkboard but probably any good teacher supply or office supply store could help! Secondly, you could make a felt board and use a glue like Aleene's Tack It Over and Over.
7. Glue velcro to the backs, and have a felt board, I am also told it you have the right cover on the board (possibly also felt) and put a swipe of rubber cement on the photo, it will stick. Maybe the back was a laminant. I can't remember. Then, theres the old "gum" method. Most craft stores sell a product that sort of looks like gum, and it is intended to hold posters on the wall. You cannot use it on certain painted walls, tho. I got some at Wal-Mart and it works!! It was in the school/office supplies.
8. Criss-cross your corkboard with several strips of ribbon, securing them tightly to the back of the corkboard. This works especially well if you pad the board (doesn't have to be cork) with foam and cover that with a decorative fabric; then criss-cross the ribbons diagonally. Then your son slides his pictures in behind the ribbon. (I saw this on an episode of Martha Stewart - must have been sick that day...)
9. Use self sticking velcro. You can put strips of velcro on the board, and then cut squares in the part that sticks to the velcro. The velcro has adhesive on both sides so it can be attached to anything. YOu can get it at any fabric store and it usually runs $1.00 for about 3 feet. If you need more info on this, please let me know. It is kinda hard to explain using words.
10. Older mom here. My baby is now 18 LOL. Try using the poster board stickum like they use in college dorms now. And instead of a cork board use a dry message board.
11. I just read your problem about where to tack you son's collection. You could display them on a metallic board or the fridge with rubber magnets. My son loves to play with the variety of rubbers magnets on our fridge. Just a thought.
12. How about gluing all of his scraps and things onto posterboard and making an ongoing collage. My 2&1/2 year old loves to cut (with safe scissors) and glue paper.
13. Sherri, 3m has some tackie tape that you can buy. I've used on walls and it doesn't remove the paint or hurt the finish. I got them at a teacher learning type of store. I'm sure you can get them at Wal-mart or some sort of art supply store.
14. I took poster board and glued clothes pins to it then let the kids use fabric paints (that is what I had on hand at the time) to decorate the clothes pins. Works great! Have used them for 3 or 4 years now)
15. I know you or some other creative people could help with exactly what metal object, such as the side of a big filing cabinet. I personally do not like to clutter my refrigerator and could understand why no one else would want to.
My idea was when my school age children were younger, we put all their things in view by the family at all times on the side of our big upright freezer with MAGNETS. Kids love all kind of magnets. Collecting them as well as what they hang with them. You can get big strong ones for those heavy projects. There are so many different kinds and you can always make projects with magnets as well. My children always enjoyed playing with the magnets. They would arrange little scenes, or if the magnets were cars, a pretend road was made. Magnets can be purchased everywhere and sometimes in their favorite cartoon character or animal. The freezer was not something that mattered as far as any scratches, not that they ever made any. They knew the refrigerator was "off limits" except for the few things I hang there for reminders.
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Sherri Caldwell is an (almost) thirty-something Work At Home Mom in Atlanta with two children, ages 2 1/2 years and 2 months. She juggles house, husband, children, and dogs with a "part-time" network marketing career with USANA, a company which manufactures high-quality nutritional, personal care, and weight management products. "I am a network trainer with USANA and work with people all over the U.S. and Canada to help them realize success either with USANA's excellent nutritional products and/or USANA's business opportunity (people getting paid to share their experience and satisfaction with USANA products!)". Visit her site at http://www.mindspring.com/~elixir/success
