DIY First Day of School Sign

My daughter started Kindergarten today (I seriously don’t know how THAT happened, it seems like the time between her birth and starting school passed in the blink of an eye).  Dropping her off at school this morning brought a few tears to my eyes (okay, maybe more than a few…)  Over the last couple of years, I have seen pictures of kids on the first day of school holding up a sign to show what grade they were starting and knew I wanted to do that  for my daughter’s first day of school each year.  So, right before her first day of school, I set to work finding items around the house to make a sign that we could use each year to document her first day of school.  Luckily we had everything on hand already!  The wood I used was scrap wood we had lying around.  Here are the plans for the sign I made:

First Day of School Sign Materials:

• 5″ wide tongue and groove boards (you can also use two 1×6 boards and use a Kreg Jig to attach them)
• 1 – 1×2 board @ 6 ft
• wood glue
• 2 1/2″ wood nails
• Black Chalkboard Spray Paint
• Spray can of paint for the trim and lettering (I used purple since that is one of my daughter’s favorite colors)

Cut List:

• 2 – 5″ wide tongue and groove boards @ 13 1/2″ in length each
• 2 – 1×2 boards @ 13 1/2″ each
• 2 – 1×2 boards @ 13″ each

First Day of School Sign Instructions:

First, I cut all the boards listed in the cut list on my miter saw.  Once cut, I had these boards:

Cut boards for building sign and frame

Next, I attached the two tongue and groove boards together using wood glue and laying them on a flat surface for the glue to dry.

Use wood glue to attach tongue and groove boards

Once the glue had dried, I painted the front of the tongue and groove boards with black chalkboard spray paint.

Spray tongue and groove boards with black chalkboard paint

While the black spray paint was drying, I painted the trim boards and the lettering for the sign with a can of purple spray paint. I had previously purchased a bag of small wooden letters from Hobby Lobby for another project and luckily I had enough letters left to make the “First Day Of” lettering I wanted for the sign.  I also had some small wood appliques from Hobby Lobby that I painted and added to the sign.

Sign lettering painted purple

Trim boards painted purple

Once all the boards were dry,  I attached the trim pieces to the tongue and groove boards using wood glue and 2 1/2″ wood screws.

Attach trim boards with wood glue and 2 1/2″ wood screws

Next, I glued the wood lettering and flowers onto the top tongue and groove board (the bottom board is where I will write in the grade my daughter will be attending each year).

Attach lettering to top board with wood glue.

Lastly,  I used a piece of chalk to write the grade my daughter will be attending on the bottom board.  Here’s the final finished sign:

First Day of School sign

And, here is one of my daughter holding the sign right before I took her to her first day of Kindergarten this morning (she’s so proud to be starting school!)

My beautiful daughter holding up the first day of school sign

This sign only took me a couple of hours to make (and most of that was just waiting for paint to dry) and cost me nothing since I had everything on hand.  And, best of all, I can use this sign year after year to document my daughter’s first day of school for each school year!