DIY Board and Batten Wall

When we first bought our house I didn't think much about the giant blank wall in the entry way. It wasn't until the decorating began that I had no idea what to do with it! At first I thought about a bench or a giant mirror on the wall but the entry way is too small to add much that sticks out. If I just had a mirror sitting there, that probably wouldn't work well with kiddos, and we were expecting our first. Then I remembered a house that I loved while house hunting but was too pricey. It had board and batten in the entry way and I absolutely loved it! *LIGHTBULB* 

So we ran over to home depot, and got some boards cut to fit our wall. 

Then we taped the boards up on the wall where we wanted them. (This ended up changing when we decided against nail glue and went just for nailing the boards into studs.)

Getting all prepped for the paint! Instead of having batten on the wall we just decided to paint the wall. It made this project a little more budget friendly. 

Hooray, the wall was painted! 

Maybe you will notice that our baseboards look a little different. Instead of going with a whole new baseboard, we bought a strip of a quarter round piece. It added just a little bit more height to the baseboard and it created a flat piece for the boards to rest on top of. 

We filled in the nail holes and painted the boards and baseboards. Now all we need is a cute mirror and some pictures hung over the board and batten, then... TADA! 

Thanksgiving Turkey Shape Craft

This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving crafts to make! For one, it is super cute, and two, it's a great way to practice identifying shapes and/or colors! I would make this craft with my students at the beginning of November and would put them on my bulletin board with a saying "We're Shaping Up For Fall!"

What you need:

1. Different colored diamonds (feathers)
2. Orange and yellow triangles (beaks and feet)
3. Brown ovals
4. Googley eyes
5. Glue

I have templates for the shapes that you can use to print out and cut. You can find them on my teachers pay teachers store (Free) here:

The shapes are ready to print and be cut out. If you have students who can cut themselves then you can let them cut out their own! If you have students who have a harder time cutting on skinny lines, I recommend drawing over the line with a thick marker to make the line bigger, which should make it easier for them to cut out the shapes. You may have students who need the shapes previously cut out for them. I had one or two students in my class who could cut out their own shapes but the rest of the students needed them previously cut. 

Happy Thanksgiving!