Children's Book Baby Block DIY

I am so excited to share this tutorial because a lot of people I know are having babies or have already had babies. This is such a cute project to do as a gift or for your own child. Aren't these baby blocks so adorable?! I love how they turned out!! So back when I threw Kallie a baby shower, we made some baby blocks for Karson. I had a table set up with used children's books, paint, and wooden blocks to create some cute blocks for Karson. However, in the amount of time we had, we didn't finish a lot of them. So I decided with the left over supplies I would make blocks for my adorable nephew (I threw in a picture of him at the bottom). This is a great DIY project that you can personalize for a baby shower, birthday or Christmas gift.

Supplies

- Used Children's Book- Check out goodwill and second hand book shops. You are cutting these books up so you don't want to buy new. I used multiple DR. Seuss books, Where the Wild Things Are and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

-Wooden blocks- I got mine from Michaels and these get expensive when your buying a lot of them (use a coupon).

- A variety of NON-TOXIC acrylic paints - This is really important. These are baby blocks and babys put everything in their mouths so please get NON-TOXIC paint. Martha Stewart paint it what I used.

- NON-TOXIC Glue- I used Martha Stewart Matte glue.

- Sand Paper

- Paint brush

- Scissors

- Card Stock paper

Tutorial

- Start off by lightly sanding the wooden blocks so that the paint will stay. Then just wipe each block after with a towel.

-Use a block as a guide to make a couple of card stock square cutout patterns.

- Paint each block with vibrant colors. You only need the sides painted so I just did the edges of the blocks. Of course, make sure each side is dry before you start painting on a different side of the same block.

-While the paint is drying you can look through your books and find your favorite parts to cutout. Using your card stock pattern, test your favorite places in the books to make sure it will fit on your block square. You want to make sure that the image is small enough for the block so you can tell what it is. 

- Trace the area in the book with the card stock pattern square and then cutout multiple squares in your books to glue to your blocks. 

- Organize your cutouts in a pile according to how you want your blocks to be. For instance, I chose to cutout Karson's name using the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book. Then I chose to place a letter from Karson's name on each block and then stuck with using either a DR Seuss or Where the Wild things are theme. I did not mix the DR Seuss and the Where the Wild Things books together on the same wooden block (I hope that makes sense). However, the blocks are your creation and you should do whatever kind of theme you want. If you want to place different children's books on each block and mix them then go right ahead.

-Next glue down your cutout book squares to your blocks with your nontoxic glue. Allow sides to dry before gluing on the same block. You don't want to glue too soon and have your block stick to whatever surface your working on and ruin the book paper. 

- After all sides are glued down then place a thin coat of glue over each surface to cover and make sure the paper is well protected. 

 -Allow blocks to dry.

I do not have a dedicated work space for my crafts/painting projects. So I just take old towels (which I now call my crafting towels) down to protect whatever surface I work on.

So here are some pictures of the different sides of each block.

I have to throw in a picture of my adorable nephew!! This picture was taken over Thanksgiving, but it is one of my favorites. He is so completely precious and I am so in love with this little fellow!!