How To Make A Wood Growth Chart

Kids grow up so fast! Those milestones we parents track like their first tooth, rolling over, crawling, and walking happens in the blink of an eye, or so it seems. 

As a mom, I wanted to treasure these moments forever knowing that the next growth milestone is just around the corner! I just don't want to forget any of them! 

DIY Wood Growth Chart

Keeping track of how much your child has grown from year to year is just another great way to treasure their childhood. We have been tracking all four of our kids' annual growth with a cardboard growth chart we got from our pediatrician when our first child turned one. Every birthday I get out the chart and measure the birthday boy (or girl) making a mark in pen with their name and age on our growth chart. The kids love to see how they "measure up" to the height of their siblings when they were that age. 

So far my two boys are growing at about the same pace when I compare how tall they are at the same age. My second-born, however, is clearly the shortest and slowest grower compared to her siblings.

I love our growth chart but since it is cardboard I worry about its durability. So far it has done a good job serving its purpose for our family but I recently was inspired to make a wooden growth chart for two of my little nieces. The youngest is turning one in a few weeks and I thought this would make a great birthday gift. I am also making one for her sister who is 3.

I decided to make the growth charts from wood so they are durable as well as movable just in case someday my sister and her family move. This way they can take these special memories with them.

This project is super simple and fun!  Let me tell you how I made my wood growth chart.

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Easy DIY Wood Growth Chart

Materials:

• 1 .25" x 5.5" x 48" poplar wood board ( I found mine at Home Depot)

• Paint (I used Behr brand interior paint) or wood stain

• Paintbrush

• Ruler

• Fine grit sandpaper

• Sawtooth picture hanger

• Spray on sealer

• Newspaper or drop cloth (to keep the surface you are painting on clean and paint free)

• Silicone wall protectors

DIY Wood Growth Chart Step-by-Step Tutorial

I really wanted a thin board for this project since it will be hanging on a wall in a child's room. The Home Depot has a ton of options for boards that vary in length, width, and thickness. I ended up choosing a .25" x 5.5" x 48"poplar board.

After you gather all of your supplies you are ready to begin. 

Step #1

• First step is to cover your work surface with newspaper or a drop cloth so you don't get paint everywhere. It is up to you whether or not you want to paint or stain your wood board but both methods look great. 

The board I got from The Home Depot was poplar which is a light-colored wood that has beautiful wood grains visible throughout the entire board.  Staining would have enhanced the natural wood grain and looked lovely however I decided to paint the board.

• Apply one coat of paint to each side and along the edges of the board allowing for the paint to dry before flipping it to the other side.

TIP - When you apply paint to wood the wood soaks up the paint resulting in a rough surface. After the paint has completely dried use a fine grit Sandpaper and lightly sand the painted wood. I liked the way the painted wood had a bit of a rustic look to it after I sanded it so I did not apply a second coat of paint. If you don't like a rustic look you may have to apply a second coat of paint to all sides of the board. 

Again, after the second coat of paint dries you will have to lightly sand the board so that the surface is smooth and free from rough spots.

Step #2 

• Once the board is painted it is time to mark out the ruler measurements lightly in pencil. You will want to take into consideration that the wood growth chart will be hung on a wall that probably has baseboards. I chose to start my measurement markings at the height of 1 foot (12"). This means that when the growth chart is hung on the wall the bottom should be 12" from the floor.

Here is a graphic to show the steps I followed to paint the measurement marks. Below the picture are the written instructions:

You can choose any starting point that you want for your growth chart. The reason why I chose 12 inches was so my growth chart measurements had the height of my nieces as newborns. Both happen to be 19 inches tall as newborns so I thought it would be cute to include that measurement as their first growth milestone on their growth chart.

• I placed my ruler along the edge of the wood board with the bottom of the ruler even with the bottom of the board. I then lightly marked one inch increments in pencil along the board until I had the entire length of the board marked and measured.

• Next, I grabbed a 2 x 4 Lego block ( hey, don't judge it was just laying on the counter next to me and it worked great!) to use as a template for how long I wanted my finished inch markings to look. I used the short side of the Lego to mark the length of the lines at the 1", 2", 4", 5", 7", 8", 10", 11"  measurements. 

• For the 3", 6" and 9" I used the long side of the Lego piece so that these markings would stand out. 

• Then at every foot (2 foot, 3 foot, 4 foot and 5 foot) I measured and marked a 3 1/2" line. You can get a better idea of how this looks from the pictures above.

• After I finished marking the inch and foot lines I used a fine tip paintbrush and painted over them with black acrylic paint. Go slow and steady so your lines stay straight and don't get wobbly! Let the paint lines completely dry before you do any more work on the growth chart.

• Now that the measurement lines are dry it is time to add the numbers at the long 3 1/2" marks to show the "foot" measurements. I used a stencil and traced my numbers lightly in pencil first. 

If you don't have a stencil just print off a number in the font you like at the size that fits your project. Lay the printed number on your growth chart in the spot you like next to the appropriate "foot" marking and then with a pencil trace around the printed number pressing hard on the pencil so that the pencil leaves a mark on the wood. Lift the paper up and lightly trace over the indentations. 

number & letter stencils Amazon

number stencil from Amazon

• Once all of the "foot" measurements have been penciled in grab your fine tip paintbrush and whatever color acrylic paint you want to use and paint fill in the numbers where you stenciled in the markings. I chose to use black acrylic paint which is the same as I used for the line measurement markings. Let the paint dry completely.

Step #3 

• Because I was making these growth charts for my nieces I wanted to include their names on the growth charts so they know whose is whose. I followed the same steps I used for stenciling in the numbers but this time with letters to spell out their names. Once I was happy with the placement and had traced the letters onto the wood I used my fine tip paint brush and painted in their names. I chose a complimentary color in acrylic paint to paint their names and I really love how it turned out!

Step #4

• I chose to decorate each of these growth charts with cute animals, flowers, and simple shapes because it would match the theme my nieces' playroom is decorated with which I knew is where these cute little growth charts were going to be hung. The options for decorating your custom wood growth chart are endless! Let your imagination go wild. If you don't feel comfortable free-handing the drawings you could always find a great stencil and trace it.

Or how about hot gluing some cute painted wood animals 

Amazon

Amazon has a big selection of these cute critters!! 

Step #5

• When I was Pinteresting to get some good ideas and inspiration for wood growth charts one of the steps I found missing in a lot of tutorials was how to hang your finished wood growth chart. I wanted to make sure you weren't left in the dark with this step so here is what I did! 

• Since the wood I used was fairly thin I was limited to the type of sawtooth hanger because most have long nails that would pop through the front of the wood if I used them. However, I did find one type of sawtooth hanger, a no-nail sawtooth hanger that wouldn't pop through the front of the growth chart when I attached them. They were super easy to attach requiring only a hammer to pop the edges of the hangers into the wood. Here is what I used:

No Nail Sawtooth Hanger from Amazon

These little hangers are awesome! If you have never used them you have to give them a try! The portion that gets pounded into the wood is serrated so it won't pop out once it is hammered into the wood. 

Step #6

• The last step for this project is to add a couple of clear rubber bumper pads to the bottom corners on the back of the growth chart. Once again here is what I recommend using:

clear rubber bumper pads

That's it, you are all done! Just remember when hanging the growth chart to measure from the floor up to the required height to start. I hung these growth charts starting at 12" up from the floor. Don't they look so cute! I can't wait to see how quickly my nieces grow over the next few years. 

Don't forget to PIN this project for later so you can use this tutorial to make your own wood growth chart. Oh, and please share your ideas, finished projects, and questions with me in the comment section. 

Thanks for stopping by - see you soon!