🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop
- 🤝 Collaborative Decision-Making — Decorating shared spaces as a family requires negotiating aesthetic preferences, compromising, and respecting others' contributions — social-emotional skills that collaborative school and work projects require.
- 📅 Seasonal & Temporal Awareness — Decorating for different seasons and occasions builds temporal awareness — understanding that time passes in meaningful cycles — and connects children to the cultural rhythms that community belonging requires.
- 🏆 Pride in Environment — Children who participate in making their environment beautiful develop ownership of and investment in that space — taking better care of it and experiencing the satisfaction of living in a space they helped create.
- 🖐️ Fine Motor Skills — The detailed physical work of decorating — cutting paper precisely, placing items carefully, hanging things level — develops fine motor precision in a context that children find personally meaningful and motivating.
Chalkboard paint has become the “it girl” of the decorating world lately. It has left the classroom and found its way to preschooler’s bedrooms and playrooms, as well as the family bathroom, kitchen and dining room. It is no wonder, since chalkboard paint is easy to use, and can be applied to almost any surface. Because this paint is so versatile, it is easy to create a chalkboard for your preschooler, who will have hours of imaginative fun. An inexpensive accessory that would go well in any room of the house is a recycled window chalkboard.
Supplies
A recycled window frame
Chalkboard Paint
Plywood
Laytex Paint
Hanging Brackets
Step One: Removing the Glass
A safety precaution for preschoolers is removing the glass from the frame. If you are making a chalkboard window for decoration, for the kitchen for instance, then you can skip this step. To remove glass panes, cover them with a towel and carefully break each pane with a hammer. Be sure to wear safety goggles and protective gloves.
Step Two: Preparing the Frame
Lightly sand the window frame, to remove any rough edges. If you are not sure of the age of your window, take precaution, it may have been painted with lead paint. Be sure to wear a facemask, and work in a well ventilated room or outside, and keep small children away from the work area. Thoroughly wipe up all the dust from the window frame and work area once you are finished.
Step Three: Paint the Frame
Paint the frame in the color of your choice. Two coats usually work best. Let dry thoroughly
Step Four: Make the Chalkboard
Measure the spaces where the window panes were. Cut out pieces of sanded plywood a ½ inch larger then the openings. Then paint the plywood insets with the chalkboard paint. Be sure to read the manufacturers directions before you begin. You will need at least two coats of the chalkboard paint to create a durable finish. Let the chalkboard panels dry completely. Using finishing nails, attach the plywood to the back of the frame.
Step Five: Add the Hanging Hardware
Once the chalkboard panels are attached, turn the window frame over. Attach two picture brackets to each corner, for hanging.
Other Decorating Ideas
-Paint a chalkboard directly onto your preschooler’s bedroom wall. You can add wooden trim to give it an authentic schoolroom look.
-Paint the panel insets of your preschooler’s bedroom or closet door with chalkboard paint.
-Use a chalkboard paint that is also magnetic; add brightly colored alphabet magnets, magnetic dolls or cars to help inspire your preschooler!
Beyond aesthetics, window treatments in a preschooler's room serve important practical functions. Light control is the most critical: preschoolers who nap and sleep better in a darkened room benefit enormously from blackout or room-darkening options, even behind a decorative treatment. Look for cellular shades or blackout roller shades that can be layered with a decorative panel for the best of both worlds.
Safety is equally important. Avoid long cords entirely in any room where a young child spends time — cordless lift systems and motorized options are now widely available at every price point. Tie-back cords should be secured with breakaway safety tassels as a minimum precaution.
One of the most valuable things about decorating a preschooler's room — and one of the most overlooked — is the opportunity to involve your child in the decisions. Even a two-year-old can point to a color swatch they prefer, choose between two fabric options, or decide where their stuffed animals will live. This participation builds ownership, autonomy, and genuine pride in their space.
Children who have contributed to their environment are more likely to respect and care for it. "We chose this together" is a powerful message about a child's value and voice in the family. It also makes the room genuinely theirs in a way that an adult-designed space, however beautiful, never quite can be.
