Book Pick Sticks

I had some friends of mine who were talking about organizing their kids books. Categories like picture books, Step reading books, chapter books etc. All in alphabetical order within the categories. "NUTS" I thought to myself.

But that might be because I have a 2 year old who would destroy any sense of order the books are in in two seconds flat!

Well... I did some rearranging this week and created a reading nook for my kids in one of the corners of the craft/sewing/wii/toy room. Yes I know lots of uses for one room. It is still a work in progress but I do want the books to stay on the shelves and in that area. One book at a time is what I would like the rule to be, so I needed a tool to help teach this.

Then I remembered the system that they use at my daughter's school.

Book Pick Sticks!

Today we got out our stamps and die some stamping...

What did we stamp?

We stopped by Ace which is just around the corner from our place and asked for small paint sticks. Who knew they came in three sizes. I figured there was just one gallon and five gallon sizes but turns out there is this little size that is about 10 inches long. Lets face it much longer and kids are going to use it as a sword, so I was excited when I saw them. Little hands, need little sticks. Perfect.

Here is what we ended up with.

Ok Allie was the only one who actually wanted to stamp the stick, the boys were more interested in stamping on paper, so they let me help them with their sticks, but they told me what to put on them.

Then I made a little container for them out of an empty fruit can and put it on top of our book shelf.

Here is our reading nook in progress. I need to hang the poster frame still and come up with some sort of colorful rug to define the space but the kids are taking to it and think it is cozy.

So how do the sticks work.???

 Well if you see a book on the shelf that you like, you put the stick in next to the book, it can be in front or behind, it doesn't matter. Then you take your book out but leave the stick sticking out of the bookshelf where the book was.

Then when it is time to put your book away... you know exactly where it goes on the shelf. You stick it back next to your stick, and moving the stick sideways actually makes more room for you to put your book back. Then once the book is back on the shelf you can remove your stick and use it to choose another book.

Using these sticks would be the only way I would ever alphabetize my kids library books. Are they alphabetized now?? No way! They are still in training. But I am hoping that the stick will help them remember the one book at a time rule, and make it easier for them to put books back onto the shelves.

We are also going to make a second set of sticks that go in each of our kids library bags for when we go to the public library. Actually... I think I will make a stick for myself as well.

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