World Wall Maps

Decorating a child's room is a creative outlet where your imagination can run wild. While some kids will want their walls covered with princesses or superheroes, applying educational decor to their walls doesn't have to be as drab as it sounds. Teacher supply stores are full of educational ideas for the classroom, but there's nothing stopping you from bringing some of their wall decorations into your own home. Alphabet and number charts are available in standard poster sizes and in longer, thinner styles, like the sort you would see along the top of a classroom blackboard. The latter could even be used as a full-room border, but be sure to place them at your child's eye level to get the most use out of them! Many craft and home decor stores will have their share of wall decorations to help keep a kid's mind working. Large letter and number cutouts are often sold at craft stores, ready to be decoupaged, rubber stamped or painted in your favorite colors. Framed world maps and maps of individual countries look beautiful on a wall and double as educational resources. Wall murals are a fast way to wrap a room in a central theme while adding color and personality. Murals can be found in stores and online; they come in an assortment of sizes and themes and are quick and easy to apply. If you're feeling extra creative, create and paint your own mural. This way you can incorporate any educational elements you feel are important - like numbers, colors, shapes, letters and animals - which you can later use as a teaching tool for your children. Kids can get down and dirty too when they help you work on a paint-by-number mural. These come both as wallpaper and in kits with patterns that you trace onto the wall with a list of the different colors you will need to complete the mural (although nothing stops you from choosing whichever colors you like of course). A number of paint companies also make blackboard paint. It goes on like any other wall paint, but, once dry, allows you to write on it with chalk and wipe it off as often as you'd like. Kids can practice their handwriting and drawing skills without the waste of paper and you can leave messages for them right on their wall. Another fun idea is recycling old children's books. Tear out and frame some of the pages of an elementary book of numbers or shapes for practice with the little ones. The framed pages of a book of nursery rhymes can help with reading. Use hand-me-down books or purchase them at thrift stores and yard sales. Play around with all the different options available. Each of these ideas can be adapted to fit pretty much any hobby or interest. Keeping your kids intellectually involved is just as important as keeping them entertained. By Cat Soderstrom Article Source: ezinearticles.com Read the rest of this entry »