Credit: Yummymummyclub.ca I work hard to create a print rich environment for Biker Boy because, well, I love to read and I want to pass it on to him. It also helps that the research shows that access to books has a positive effect on children’s motivation to read but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. Thanks to the Grandmas and Amazon’s penny books we’ve accumulated a LOT of books. It had gotten to the point where it was becoming increasingly difficult to choose books for our bedtime stories because we had to rifle through stacks of books before deciding.

Pinterest to the rescue Pinterest of course had found a solution to our cluttered book situation. All over Pinterest were these ingenious projects that used rain gutters or spice racks as book shelves and after reading the research behind these types of shelves, I knew I had to have one. According to the research, just having books in the home isn’t enough. Turns out the way books are displayed can have a significant effect on children’s enthusiasm for reading. According to the research, children are more likely to select books that are displayed with the cover facing outwards displayed in rain gutters or spice shelves than books where only the spine is shown.

Pinterest success story

I usually pinner not a doer but I was determined check off this project from my list. I am happy to report that my son’s books are not cluttered anymore since my husband put up these picture ledges from Ikea. I decided to go with picture ledges because I was worried the rain gutters would be too flimsy for my one boy wrecking crew. The shelves have been up for several weeks now and so far so good. To make sure we get to all his books at some point, I’ve created a system where I rotate the books that are displayed. Also, I’ve reserved the bottom shelf for library books so now instead of realizing that I hadn’t read some of the books before they were due, we actually have been reading them. Go figure! Not to mention, it’s so gratifying when Biker Boy brings me a book he’s spied to read. Yep, I am a happy Pinterest mum.