A few weeks ago my children’s school set them a fun challenge – to make a book sign post to decorate the school grounds. Both my children love to read and wanted to take part. It was a really fun project so I thought I would share it with you in case it inspires your children too.

I’m sure you’ve seen this kind of sign post before. They usually feature travel destinations but there’s no reason why they can’t be adapted for literary destinations or titles too. My children were asked to decorate their book signs with the titles and covers of their favourite books, although I quite like the idea of a literary destination sign such as Hogwarts the Hundred Acre Wood or Narnia!

Supplies to make a book sign:
Wood
A short list of your favourite books
Paint
Varnish

How to make a DIY book sign post

My son chose the titles of 5 books he wanted to re-create, one on each finger post. We keep a supply of wood for little projects, mainly off cuts and wooden pallets, so looked through it to make sure we had enough – one long piece for the post, and 5 shorter pieces for the finger posts. We then cut the finger posts to the right length and shaped one end of each finger post to a point, to make it look like it was showing the direction. We then roughly sanded each piece of post and painted them white.

Once the wood was cut we could start on the book cover designs. My son had already made a rough design for each finger post so he transferred his design in pencil, then painted them. His five books were The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Dog Man, The Creakers, Barry Loser and The World’s Worst Children.

He put the title of the book and the author on each one, trying to copy the style of the book where he could. If there was room he also added something from the front cover.

When the designs were finished each finger post was given a coat of varnish as the book sign post would be placed outdoors. We hung them to dry on the washing line whilst they dried.

When they had completely dried we screwed them to the post.

What do you think of our DIY book sign post? It’s a great way to re-use wooden pallets and also inspire a look of reading in children.

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