This Plate

I made this plate last year in my Mothers of Preschooler (MOPS) group. I like this plate a lot. Let me tell you why... It was super easy to make, I get tons of compliments on it, and I've taken the idea and given plates like it to several people as gifts. Basically, all you need is a plate (it can be made of any material), 1 can of black chalkboard paint (you can find it at any arts-n-crafts store like Micheal's), and a foam paint brush. Some of the women in my MOPS group painted their entire plate, leaving no outside border. But I left a border on my plate because I thought it was pretty. So, you paint whatever area you want covered in the chalkboard paint, let it dry, then put on a second coat and let it dry. And boom, you're done! You have an adorable chalkboard plate. Oh, and some of the ladies in my MOPS group hot-glued a piece of ribbon to the back of their plates, so that they could hang it somewhere. But I bought the stand so that I could move it around and put it on my kitchen table, sideboard, or kitchen counter top. I got the stand from Target for around $10.

Okay, so I took this idea and expanded upon it. I found some really lovely plates at Michael's and used them as place cards for our guests at Avery's birthday tea party. She and I made the plates together and when the party was over, we gave the plates as gifts to our guests (Grandmothers, Aunts, etc.). They were a big hit, if I do say so myself. And then, because I had all that chalkboard paint left over, Avery, Samuel and I went to Target (have I mentioned that I love Target?) and found some really cute melamine platters. Then we made teacher appreciation gifts out of them. Samuel and Avery gave the platters to their teachers for Teacher Appreciation week last May, and I was so thrilled to see that both of their teachers from last year have their chalkboard platters hanging in their classrooms this year. On the platters, in chalk we wrote, "Welcome to _______'s (teacher's name) Classroom." And we put a piece of ribbon on their platters so that they could hang them up.

So, you might be asking yourself what you use a chalkboard plate for exactly? Well, I started using my plate at home to write little notes to the kids and to Hector on (saves paper!). I also used it when we were preparing to go on our summer vacation, as a countdown clock. Each morning we'd erase the number of days until our vacation, and write in the new number. The kids had a lot of fun with that. We also did a countdown clock on the plate for the first day of school, but the kids weren't too thrilled about that countdown. :-) And on their first day of school when they woke up and came to the table for breakfast, I had written, "This is your first day of 1st and 2nd grade. Make it a great day!" When they came home from school, I had written on the plate, "Was it a great day?" And then on the second day of school when they came home, I had written, "Was the 2nd day even better than the 1st?" By the third day of school, when they came home and saw a new note on the plate that said, "Woo Hoo! We start Choir & Missions at church tonight!" they started expecting a new note on the plate each afternoon. And so, I've kept it up, and now I've started using this plate as a daily conversation starter/daily affirmation plate with my kids. And they really do love it! Each afternoon they can't wait to see what the plate says. I've asked them what the best part of their day was, who they sat next too during lunch, to tell me 1 new thing they learned at school, etc. I really do like this plate!