How to Make a Child's Alphabet Board Book

Creating a board book for your child, or to give as a gift, is a fun and easy project. You can use up extra alphabet stickers and smaller pieces of patterned paper from your scrapbooking supply stash while creating a fun board book to help your toddler to learn the alphabet or how to count. This easy and fun project makes a great gift for a young child, especially if it is personalized to his or her likes. You can also have a fun time having your child pick pictures out of a magazine to put in his very own book.

Supplies needed: Blank board book (I got mine from BareBooks.com; you could also use an old board book from a yardsale, or from your child's bookshelf); Mod Podge or similar adhesive; foam paint brush to apply the adhesive; old magazines for pictures to put in your book or photographs of items; scissors; paper trimmer; alphabet or number stickers; patterned paper or cardstock for the background of each page; pen or slick marker. Note: some pens and markers bleed or smear when covered with Mod Podge. Choose a non-bleeding or permanent marker.

The first thing you need to do is decide on a theme. You could do a book of different animals, or a book of pictures of family members. Another idea is to do a book about different types of vehicles - airplanes, trucks, boats, etc. I have made an alphabet book - the book I used had 12 pages so I did 2 or 3 letters per page - with magazine clippings representing each letter, and a number book with 4 toys, 5 kinds of fruit, 6 cousins, 7 jungle animals, etc.

Once you have decided on a theme, collect appropriate pictures. Most of my pictures were clipped from old magazines. You could also take pictures of items you want in your book. When cutting out pictures from a magazine, don't leave any corners. Cut in a circle or smooth shape around the picture. Corners are too easy for a child to pick away from the page of the book.

While assembling your book, it is best to work on one page at a time, allowing plenty of time to dry between each set of pages. This way your pages can dry completely while lying open and won't get stuck together. Don't do the background paper for the entire book, then the pictures, etc; your pages are more likely to stick together and tear.

To assemble the book, first carefully measure the size of the page. For the cover, I did not cover the spine on the front because it bends each time the book is opened, but I did cover the spine on the back. Cut your background paper to the necessary size using a paper trimmer and spread a thin layer of Mod Podge on the page of the book using a foam brush. Press the background paper onto the page, smoothing out any bubbles or ripples as the adhesive dries. Trim the corners of the paper with scissors if your book has round corners like mine.

Next, arrange your photographs or magazine clippings on the page as desired. Spread a thin layer of Mod Podge on the back of each clipping and adhere to the page. Adhere letter stickers where desired. Smooth out any bubbles in the pictures as the adhesive dries. Using your pen or slick marker, write the words or description of each item onto the page. Once your pictures are dry, use your foam brush to spread a thicker layer of adhesive over the top of the page, smoothing down the edges of the pictures and the background paper.

Once all of your pages are complete, cover the edges of each page with another layer of Mod Podge to keep the background papers from peeling off. Allow your book to completely dry. You may wish to use a sealant on your book to keep the Mod Podge from being tacky, but I did not have this problem.