I am a book lover. One of my favorite days is the yearly library book sale where I fill my bag and arms with books and walk out without spending over $10 for my haul.
Ten years ago, we had only a handful of books, and now we have two large bookcases and a smaller one all nearly full. While I’m still always on the hunt for great books, I have gotten more choosy about what books find a home on our shelves. Twice a year I sort through our books and try to fill a box to giveaway.
With little ones in our home, the bookshelves can quickly become a mess. If this born organizer could have her way, the books would be arranged by subject and by author alphabetically. Alas, that is just not going to happen.
The toddler dumps a whole shelf of books on the floor in her efforts to find the perfect one. The preschooler stuffs the books on the shelf wherever there is a hole. I want to grab a specific book to read to my preschoolers during school time, but finding the right one is impossible on our disorganized bookshelves.
I started searching for a solution. I wanted an easy-to-maintain system, not necessarily a Pinterest showcase.
After mulling it over for a while, I have finally developed a system that seems to work for our family. I did it by breaking out my children’s stickers!
This “system” (or lack thereof) is great, because it doesn’t matter where the kids put the books back, they are still easy to find. The stickers on the spines show me at a glance what that book is about. While I would like the books to be shelved by category, that doesn’t always happen. With the stickers, I can still find what I need and can even easily resort them if I feel the urge.
Here is a breakdown of how I did it:
Organize Kid’s Bookshelves:
Take all your books off the shelves. (I like to work one shelf at a time so I’m not completely overwhelmed.
Sort and label. As you sort, use particular sticker styles to label each category (see my key below). I keep the sticker on by putting a smidge of scotch tape over it. I do not label every book, just particular categories that I would like to be easy to find. You may need to develop a key so you can remember your categories and sticker labels until you get used to the system.
(Here is our history bookshelf. You can see the color coded stickers (by time period) makes it easy to grab a book from our current history cycle.)
Shelve your books. Put your books back on the bookshelf in whatever arrangement works for you. For us that means arranging them by binding style (hardcovers on the bottom, paperbacks next, board books).
My Bookshelf Sticker Key:
History: Small Circles
- Pink (Creation-400AD)
- Yellow (400-1000 AD)
- Orange (1000-1800 AD)
- Green (1800-Present)
Early Learning: Large Green Circle (labeled in sharpie with following categories)
- # for number
- A for Alphabet
Religious: Yellow Star
Easy Reader: Blue Star
Foreign Language: Red Star
Science: Purple Circle
Poetry: Purple Star
(Here is a picture to illustrate how easy it is to find what I’m searching for. If I want a book to help my little ones learn the alphabet, all I do is grab a green circle with an “A” and I’m good to go!)
Have you found a system that works to organize your bookshelves? How do you keep it maintained with little ones around?
