Lightweight Shelves You Build for a Childs Room

Many kids get hurt every year when they decide to climb on bookcases or shelves. Unable to bear the weight of the child the shelf often tips over and lands on the kid. Still, if your child owns lots of stuffed animals, toys, games and similar things you simply cant get by without shelves. There is an easy solution: build lightweight shelves for your kids room and he or she will never get hurt on them! You dont have to be any sort of carpenter to do so; if you can use a hot glue gun youre good to go! Foam board is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to building lightweight yet sturdy shelves. The foam board is sold at most any craft store and comes in a variety of sizes. Its not expensive and is easy to cut and assemble. There are so many different things you can use to assemble it that no two shelf sets ever have to be identical.

Pringles cans, paint cans, coffee cans and similar objects can be used along with the foam board to make the shelves. Decide how long you want the shelves to be and how tall you want the stack of shelves. The objects you choose to use along with the foam board will decide how much space will be between each set of shelves.

Cut the foam board to the sizes you want the shelves to be or use entire sheets of foam board to make each shelf. The latter keeps you from having to do any cutting at all and makes the whole project much simpler. If you are cutting the board down to other sizes, though, use a sharp knife but not a serrated one. Now mount the boards to the chosen base. If youre using paint cans, for example, paint them or cover them in something like cloth, wallpaper or even contact paper. Arrange the four cans on the floor so that they will meet the foam board at each of the four corners. Before gluing, set the foam board on the cans, just to check the position of them. Use hot glue around the can tops to secure. Other adhesives can be used in place of the hot glue. After positioning the foam board on the paint cans glue four more paint cans to the top four corners and add another sheet of foam board to make the next shelf. Continue until you have stacked the shelves as high as you want. Although foam board cant hold a bunch of extremely heavy objects it can hold everything from shoes to toys to electronics. Its an easy way to build no-hassle shelves that can never tip over and hurt a child. Although the shelves can tip over they are too lightweight to cause any real injury.