I recently did a program where we made mini book shelves. Above you can see a library patron’s finished tin. They did theirs as a bookshelf had fallen under the weight of many books. I loved it. This is a fun DIY craft program and I love that it is very solidly book related.

Supplies:

• 50 Pack 8 x 10 x 1/8 Inches Foam Boards, Multifunctional Foam Core Board
• Tongue depressor
• Scissors 
• Glue stick
• Printable cover  (You can make your own, take them from Pinterest or buy some on Etsy) 
• Tins
• Leftover decor

Steps 

This is very similar to the Booktok ornaments but you want a little thicker craft foam this time. It helps make the book spines look nice.

Step 1

Get the covers.* You want to make sure they are titles your teens like. I had a lot of middle grade and ya books also some adult titles with teen appeal. You do not want them too big to fit in your ornament. This often involved testing the sizing when printing. Make sure you use ones that have spines with word on them.

*You can run a report to find out what the most checked out titles are in your library to have some solid titles to start with.

Step 2

Have teens cut out the titles of books they want. This was fun because  you get to see what teens are really reading .

Step 3

Have the teens place the book on the craft foam. The edge of the foam will be the spine of the book. Have the cut out the foam using the book as a pattern.

Step 4

Glue the image on the foam. A glue stick is perfect for this. 

Step 5

Find a background image for the tin and cut it out. I use the tin to trace the space. Hot glue the background image in the tin.

Step 6

Cut the tongue depressor in half and then  trim it to fit in the tin. You will have two bookshelves. I then used the leftover background paper and trimmed it to cover the shelf. 

Step 7

Check to see how tall your tallest book is and then hot glue under the bottom of the shelves. 

Step 8

Add Decor as you want

This is another great way to wrap up yearly reading goals in a visual way.

Filed under: Cindy Crushes Programming, Library Programming, Programming, Teen Programming, Teen Programming in a Box