Make your own board books

Parenting and Education (Other) Homeschooling
1

You can make your own board books by purchasing the books premade by

http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?demandPrefix=12&sku=57/6386&mode=Searching&erec=0&D=design+your+own+book&Ntt=design+your+own+book&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&y=8&N=0&requestURI=processProductsCatalog&x=28&sd=Design+Your+Own!+Tell+Your+Story!+Books

I have made lots and lots of board books using coloing pages. You can also order the kit to make board books as well but it can become expensive.

http://www.ctpub.com/client/client_pages/sites/rtgbbb_index.html
http://www.blankslatebooks.com/products.html
http://www.craftercity.com/BOOK_BLANKS_PG2.htm

I create board books all the time for my curriculum’s theme.

2

I checked out all the links and it looks like you have to color or draw on the pages or maybe paste a photo. Aren’t there board books that you can make online and have them sent to you? Like on Shutterfly.com you can upload a picture and they can put it on a tote bag. Isn’t there a place where I can upload my pictures and text to make a board book? This would be really useful for taking pictures of my child and his environment - or turning some of the little reader presentations into board books. Anyone seen anything like this?

3

There are several sites but they are expensive. I just print my photos on photo paper and then glue them to the board books but here some sites

www.lulu.com
choose the scrapbooking format, but this is card stock not the white board

www.walmart.com
choose the photo department, but this is card stock not the white board

http://www.originalworks.com/

I tried to find a board book publisher but I wasn’t successful. Does anyone know of one?

If you don’t have the time I would be glad to help you create yours. I have the board books in various sizes already, I would be glad to print your own book for you and ship it to you. If you are interested let me know.

http://www.blankslatebooks.com/products.html
The above link is for you to use your computer and print the labels off, and place them on the books. It is a kit that comes with the software. It really is easy that way, no cutting, coloring, or pasting. You just print on the labels what ever you want using the software that is included, and then place the labels in order.

4

Thanks for the great links.

5

They look great! Are there any suppliers in Aust??

6

I found a US website - small 5"x5" $3.50 and large 8"x8" $5
they have eight blank pages plus a front and back cover (6 boards total)

http://rompbklyn.com/productDetail.php?productId=66&categoryId=67&productItemId=86&optionId=

looks very affordable if you live in USA!!

7

That was another website that I had in my data base. I haven’t ordered from them though. Sometimes the shipping is more than it’s worth on some websites. Just have to check them out and see.

I will check on this???

Can anyone find a self-publisher who does board books? I have searched and searched.

I know that I can buy the grey board and make the books myself using the tag board sticky paper that I can print on but it still comes out to be about $5.00 a book in cost for a 4x4 book not counting the time. But I make mine anyway. The only problem is they are not water proof like the other board books that you buy. I guess I could laminate them but there goes the cost even higher. I would say around $8.00 a book for a good printed water proof 4x4 book with 10 or 12 board pages. Maybe when the boys get bigger I will invest in this adventure??? We use board books every week for school so that’s a lot of board books to make, and a lot money.

8

HI Mother of Faith,

Thanks for all your help. I went to the dk.com website as they publish my favorite boardbooks and under contact us they had:

Special Sales
For more information regarding premium sales and custom publishing, or
corporate bulk sales, please contact specialsales@dk.com.

My other thought is to contact one of the websites like shutterfly.com or personalcreations.com and see if they would create a do-it-yourself boardbook product that is waterproof. They have make your own picture books already but I don’t think they are sturdy enough for babies.

I don’t have time today - (as I’m a full-time teacher and in Alaska - so have a really weird schedule compared to East Coast Mommies)… but I’ll try to contact DK and Shutterfly. Maybe if someone has some time and can do it too - maybe the more mommies interested in such a product the more likely they’ll take up our idea.

Kristina

9

That’s a great idea. I will research those options. Thanks.

10

I contacted them but no. Neither one of them have the equipment to give us this option. I guess I will just make them myself. I will go to the local hobby store and pick up the board and the sticker paper that is water proof and print my one, binding them with my book binding machine that my hubby bought for me for my b-day.
So if anyone else is interested in getting their book done this way I will be glad to help.

I will go get the supplies soon and place the finished product on here for veiwing.

I do have a video about mine here, check it out in the video section.

11

Thanks for finding the time to contact them for us. Too bad. Sounds like a nice home business for you if you figure out an easy and affordable way to do it. Being in the bush of Alaska - it would cost me a fortune to print things out in color and to purchase all the supplies. Shipping is so expensive here.

I’ve just been using Little Reader for that very reason but wishing I could print out some of my powerpoint presentations and laminate them. I’m also ready to start making books with my son as the star - using a digital camera. But way too expensive to print out. I’ll have to get to a craft store this summer when I go down to the lower 48 and see what I can afford to stock up on…

12

While I was googling this morning I found a person who made their own craft board books.

A suggestion they made was to buy cheap children’s board books -eg. from a book discounter - and stick your pages over them! You could probably buy them around $3-5 each.

With regards to waterproofing - place clear contact (sticky plastic cover for books - don’t know the US equivalent name, sorry) over your pages to waterproof them. You don’t need to pay extra for acid free pages that craft stores sell unless you’re intending on archiving the books.

I think that’s what I’ll do unless someone can find a cheaper alternative!!

Cheers, mtb999

13

thanks for the ideas guys!!!

14

Once I get everything completed to make some and well, I can make them for you. i don’t know about the shipping to Alaska but we can check on that. You can send me a power point file, that is when i get good enough in making the books. It only cost 0.35 cents a page here in KY for color prints. I will be glad to help you out, if interested.

I am trying that as we speak actually, thank you. I will let you know how it works about the contact paper. Also I have thought about taking old torn or faded board books and placing the paper over them, good idea to recycle old books. I can buy books here for 4/$1.00 at our local dollar store, so that’s a good idea. Thanks.

I think that maybe I will try to empliment the idea of making board books for people in our ministry. We have a ministry that sends our books to children all over the world for free. i use card stock and ofcourse the premade board books.

15

Here are the pictures of the board book that I created that IS waterproof. It isn’t bad for my very first creation of a total board books. I used my own drawing and content and I used markers and crayons. Markers work better. I also used laminate to water proof the book. My toddler has already tested the book out and he loved it. Also I made the book where my son can use a dry erase marker and actually practice printing his letters. The marker wipes right off!

I am in the process of creating a photo board book with my children as the stars. Once completed I will show the pics.

16

Here is another website that I found, but I have emailed them regarding board books, we’ll see?
http://www.bookemon.com/create_book.php

17

I have found a publisher that may possibly publish the board books for us. So I will let you know more when I recieve the confirmation. It sounds promising.

18

Here is my latest board book laminated. My toddler tested it already and it worked fine. It is a 4x4, 12 pages.

19

Wow - the book looks amazing (and the ducks are so cute!!). What materials did you use for the book - was it a recycled old board book or did you start it from scratch? How did you laminate it and bind it?

20

thats really neat. Thanks for sharing