Little Learning Spaces: A DIY Book Nook!

Our book nook is one of my favorite little learning spaces in our house! Today I'm sharing a little about our book nook, setting up a book nook, and introducing the Little Learning Spaces series!

I have had a lot of you ask me how we set up our home for homeschool and home daycare. I decided I would share what we do in this series, with the hope that it can inspire others or help you think of your own unique solutions for your needs. We don't have a ton of space, but we divide up the areas that we have into lots of usable areas with different functions. Our open floor plan has made some interesting challenges when it comes to designing situations for different activities. In this series, I will share ideas for a book nook, an art station, storage ideas, a play room, project work, music, and outdoor adventures. Each week I will share how we are set up and more ideas from others. I hope you enjoy it and feel motivated to make your own spaces work for you!

I also thought this would be the perfect time of year to talk about little learning places (like a book nook or reading corner) because a lot of you are starting to look for ways to organize learning areas as you prepare for back to school time!

A book nook has two essential ingredients: books and somewhere to read them! Here's a look at ours:

In order to give our family some privacy, we keep our friends and daycare space all downstairs. We have three additional book shelves upstairs that are just for our family, but since we are usually downstairs from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm we keep almost everything we need for homeschool and daycare downstairs.

This particular "book nook" is meant to be very child-friendly! It is tucked inside the small cut-out under our stairs, and sometimes the soccer ball bean bag is replaced by a chair:

Here are a few tips for creating your own book nook or reading corner, especially for kids:

* Limit the number of books available. I try to keep five or fewer books on each shelf. This lets children see all the books at once and choose one at a time to look at without knocking over other books. Someday I'd love to get an upright book shelf, but the flat shelves fit our budget better! We rotate books about once a month.

* Make it easy to get to. A children's book shelf should be low to the ground.

* Make it simple. Clutter is hard to hang out in, so make sure it is easy for the kids to tidy up. And definitely keep it away from a T.V. or computer...or at least make sure they're off when reading!

* Make it comfortable and friendly! This is my favorite part, and the part that changes most often. Sometimes the kids or I will switch the chair or bean bag. The stuffed animals change positions all the time, and often even get picked up, held, or taken on adventures.