Making your own custom board books is easier than you think. With just a few simple materials and some creativity, you can create adorable homemade board books for babies and toddlers.
In this step-by-step guide, as a professional board book printing manufacturer, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know to DIY board books at home.
Why Make Your Own Board Books?
Board books are essential for babies and toddlers. The thick cardboard pages are durable, easy to turn, and safe for little hands. The small size and colorful pictures make them perfect for early literacy play.
While you can buy board books at any store, making your own allows you to customize them. You can:
- Create books featuring your child, family members, pets, etc.
- Make alphabet books, number books, holiday books, and more
- Print out your own photos and artwork
- Choose theme colors and decorative elements
Handmade board books also make wonderful gifts for expectant parents and young families.
Materials Needed
You likely already have most of what you need:
- Cardstock or thin cardboard – Cereal boxes and food packaging work well
- Scissors or craft knife
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Glue stick
- Decorative paper (optional)
- Photos, artwork, text pages
- Corner rounder (optional)
You’ll also need access to a printer to print out the pages for your book. Any home printer will do.
Some people also use spray adhesive to affix the pages and decorative paper. But glue sticks are fine too.
How to Make a Board Book Step-by-Step
Follow these simple steps to create your own custom board book:
Step 1: Plan Your Book
Start by deciding what you want your book to be about. For babies, books featuring family members or pets are always a hit. Number or alphabet books also make great first board books.
Once you’ve settled on a theme, sketch out what you want each page to look like. Having a plan ahead of time makes the process smoother.
Don’t go overboard on pages though. Board books usually have about 10-20 pages total.
Step 2: Measure and Cut Cardboard
Cardboard cereal boxes work perfectly for board book pages. They have the ideal thickness. You’ll want each piece to measure about 5″ x 5″.
Use your ruler and pencil to measure and mark cuts on the cardboard. Then, use scissors or a craft knife to cut each piece out.
For a 10-page book, cut 10 squares for the inner pages. Then cut a front and back cover slightly larger, about 5.5″ x 5.5″ each.
If desired, use a corner rounder to round the corners of each piece. This helps mimic commercial board books.
Step 3: Decorate Cardboard Pieces
Now comes the fun, creative part – decorating! You can leave your cardboard blank if making a photo book. Or, cover each piece with decorative paper or artwork.
For paper, wrap a cardboard piece with your design facing down. Then flip over and crease paper around the edges. Glue paper down. Repeat for each piece.
Make sure any text or images face the right direction on each cardboard square!
Step 4: Print Out Pages
You have some options when printing book pages:
- Print full-page photos – Affix one photo per cardboard page
- Print out your own text/artwork – Affix these to pages
- Print outHalf-page sheets with images/text back-to-back. Fold paper in half and glue to back-to-back cardboard pages.
When printing, make sure your printer settings are fit to the cardboard size (5×5 inches). Print out all inner pages first, then cover images sized to 5.5×5.5 inches.
Step 5: Assemble Your Book
Once printed, now you can glue everything together!
Start by gluing the first image/text page onto the first cardboard square. Flip to backside and glue next page. Repeat alternating sides to combine all inner pages of the book with cardinal squares stacked together.
Lastly, glue front and back covers to outer pages making sure print direction is correct.
You can leave inner pages loose. But adding glue strips to the pages by spine adds durability so pages don’t tear. Let glue fully dry before little hands get ahold of the finished book!
Design Ideas for Your Board Book
The great thing about handmade board books is you can make them about almost anything. Here are some fun ideas:
Baby’s First Year Book
Document baby’s first year with milestone photos and fun memories printed on pages:
- Monthly photos showing growth
- Baby’s first foods, steps, holiday celebrations
- Photos of family adventures
Custom Alphabet Book
Help toddlers learn letters with real-life photos:
- Print uppercase letter with lowercase on each page
- Add photos of items starting with letter (A for Apple)
- Use colorful background paper for each letter page
Number Skills Book
Combine colors and numbers in one early learning concept book:
- Print numbers 1 through 10 (one number per spread)
- Decorate background with color that matches number (2 is blue, 5 is red, etc.)
- Add clipart, stickers or items starting with number
The options are endless when creating your own board book creations! Let your imagination run wild.
Extra Tips for Making Board Books
Here are a few handy tips to take your homemade board books up a notch:
- Use page protectors – Slipping printed pages into clear laminating sheets adds durability. Pages wipe clean of spills or messes too.
- Reinforce the binding – Add glue strips or washi tape along the book spine to prevent separation between pages.
- Round all corners – Not just the cover, but interior pages too. Commercial board books have rounded corners all throughout the book for safety.
- Keep it short – Board books look cuter and are easier for kids to handle when kept between 10-20 pages.
- Add interactive elements – Flap books, peek-a-boo holes, textures for feeling, lift-a-flaps, and tactile bits like ribbons or pom poms make books even more fun.
Making your own board books is incredibly fulfilling. Not to mention cost effective compared to store-bought. I encourage you to tap into your creativity. Once you DIY one book, you’ll be hooked!
The best part is creating something meaningful and educational for the little ones in your life.