A to Z Bookends

A to Z Bookends from In Our Pond   #howisafari

These A to Z bookends are not a completely new concept.  I got the idea off of Pinterest when I ran across this Etsy buy.  I liked the kid-friendly idea of the apple and zebra, but thought that I could build my own using Safari Ltd animals.

I bought 5x7 wood plaques from the craft store and painted them with a spring green acrylic paint.  Then, I used 3M Command strips to attach the wood to black bookends.  Next, I painted 5" wood letters (A and Z) in baby blue paint.  Using a hot glue gun, I glued the Safari Ltd Wildlife Alligator and the letter A to one bookend and the Zebra and letter Z to the other bookend.  At that point, there was nothing left to do except to put them on our shelf!

If you like the look of the A-Z bookshelf but you don't want to make one yourself, you can purchase an already assembled one (without the animals) on Amazon.  This subtle superhero bookend would be really fun too.  An even easier bookend would be a mason jar of shells, scrabble tiles, glass gems, math counters or a terrarium.

A to Z Bookends from In Our Pond   #howisafari

I organized our books with colored dot stickers: orange for novels, yellow for science, green for early readers, blue for board books, and red for bigger books.  I have been amazed how much the sticker labels have empowered the kids to be able to put their own books away in their bins.  Before, the kids would scatter the books around the house and not know where to put them away.  Now, I've heard the kids giggle when they've realized that they know the "code" and can put the book away in the right place.  Our bookshelf is so much neater now!

A to Z Bookends from In Our Pond   #howisafari

Here it is all put together!  Our bookshelf has lots of room to grow, which I love.  The map on the wall is a placemat and is hung at child height.  The quote frame above it is from my Dr. Suess reading printables.

Special thanks to Safari Ltd for the animals to use in this project.  I love the way they look on our shelf and my kids do too!

A to Z Bookends from In Our Pond   #howisafari

A to Z Bookends from In Our Pond   #howisafari
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