It’s hard to believe that it’ll be September next week. And even crazier to believe that the week after that, Michael will start Kindergarten!

With the pandemic still raging across the US, we’re pretty lucky here in New York that our community spread rates are very low and Michael is able to experience some semblance of in-person school this year.

His hybrid schedule will include a few days a week of in-person instruction, a day of virtual instruction, and two days of “independent learning” (which for a kindergartner likely won’t be all that independent).

In an effort to make his learning space a learning space, I cleaned up the playroom and added a learning wall (which was previously blank, and used as a back drop for my Little Britches Bakery diaper cake business).

Here are the resources for the learning wall, so you can make one for your back-to-school’er!

Presenting, our new learning space:

Our new learning space

Target and the Dollar Tree were used for most of the wall coverings:

USA Map, $1 — Target One Spot (or whatever it’s called now)

Alphabet cards, $1 — Target One Spot (or whatever it’s called now)

These were glued to a piece of poster board, $0.69 from Target.

Blank calendar, $1 — Target One Spot (or whatever it’s called now)

Glued to a piece of poster board, $1 from the Dollar Tree. I also printed out numbers, months, and holidays on 100 lb card stock for the calendar. These will be Velcro’d on to the calendar with Velcro from Dollar Tree. The unused holidays will be Velcro’d into the blue space so we don’t lose them. 

The calendar headers came from Teachers Pay Teachers. And the numbers and holidays came from A Little Pinch of Perfect. 

Alphabet border, $1 at the Dollar Tree

Michael’s animal art was created last week at school, and framed in these 9″x 12″ frames from Michael’s.

The table is one of the first pieces of furniture I ever bought, and it’s moved with me four times since 2004. Best $79 I ever spent. The price has gone up, but it’s still very affordable at $129. Available at IKEA.

And the close-up

I’ve spent a lot of time on Pinterest since March, trying to keep Michael engaged, learning, and moving forward since the pandemic hit. Most of my “Homeschooling” board on Pinterest is aimed at Kindergarten through first grade, trying to both meet him where he’s at and challenge him.

The three “reference guides” below the alphabet squares were a free printable from Miniature Masterminds. I printed them on 100 lb card stock and backed them with colored card stock.

The three phonics lessons under the calendar came from Whimsy Teaching Workshop on Teachers Pay Teachers. These were printed and glued to poster board (Target, $0.69) and bordered with accents from the Dollar Tree ($1).

We’ll also add this Season Spinner to the wall, once Michael colors it. (Probably on the first day of school!)

We’ll also add a clock in the room, so we can start learning time. It’s a little early, but Michael has been very eager to learn now.

Our crafting tables

As Michael continues to grow, he’s quickly growing out of “his” crafting table (The Latt, from Ikea, $29) that I painted and topped with a piece of Plexiglas years ago.

On top of the “kids” table, you’ll find a new caddy (Target, $3), new markers, crayons, liquid glue and glue sticks, a bingo dabber, and a book and index cards, from Target.

I bought several other great supplies at the Dollar Tree: a finger pointer (for word and calendar work), a lot of math, reading, and writing work books, and more banners for our work space.

Our playroom / craft room / learning space has it all, including a tent, kitchen, easel, a zoo full of stuffed animals, and lots of diaper cakes.

The tent was a first birthday present made by my parents, the “zoo” was an idea from Pinterest, and the easel, kitchen, and artwork hangers across the window all came from IKEA. The wall shelves are from IKEA. The diaper cakes are creations of mine, available on my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BritchesBakery.

Some of the ribbons and supplies I use for our epic craft projects and my diaper cake creations.

More IKEA resources here: the shelf and storage containers. The peg board came from Home Depot, and I painted it and hung it. While it looks unruly, it’s a genius way to store all of the materials I use often for crafting and “cake” making. Plus it kept sharp things out of reach for little hands.

Our playroom / craft room / learning space hasn’t been this clean in a long, long time and probably won’t be for awhile, once all the fun starts!

Questions? Drop them below!