Growth charts are a great and healthy way to mark your children's growth. No wonder so many people make them. Today we're going to cover two types of wood growth charts: one for indoor use and one for outdoor use.
These aren't hard to do at all, so have fun and get creative.
The indoor version
First the materials:
- a flat piece of pine wood: 6 feet long, 1 foot wide, and about 1/4-inch thick
- Sandpaper
- A vinyl cover sticker (optional)
- 1-2 cans of sprayed polyurethane (optional)
- Wood stain (optional)
- Milling cutter and / or wood stove (optional)
- Black / red paint and brush
- A drill
- A couple of drywall screws with anchors
- A drill slightly smaller than your screws
- Ruler (preferably a "T-square" type)
- A pencil
First step: prepare the board
First, drill four small holes through the board (one on each corner). Now take your flat piece of pine and lightly sand it. We chose this wood because it is light and makes such a great canvas. It is also a softwood that is very easy to work with. Something like this doesn't have to be durable, so pine is the perfect choice. A light sanding will also serve to lighten it up and bring out the wood's natural grain pattern. Make sure to chop off any splinters or burrs caused by drilling.
Step two: prepare the face
If you've watched some internet videos on the subject, you may know that you can purchase a large vinyl sticker to do this. It shouldn't be too difficult to use a search engine and find one if you want to get things done the easy way. However, using any of these things will decrease the creativity factor. In particular, it reduces your ability to create something unique and personalized. Even so, this is the fastest way to get the job done, although you may have to resize the board to match your sticker.
For those who want to get things right, use your ruler and pencil to mark the board every six feet. These will be your foot lines. Essentially, you're just copying what's on your ruler onto this board. Start with lines indicating feet, then make the inch lines. Now write the numbers in the appropriate places. Once that's done, there are three ways you can make these lines and numbers permanent:
- Paint them in black
- Use a router to engrave the numbers and lines
- Use a wood burner to burn the lines and numbers into the wood
Step three: finish the job
Your next step is to cover the surface with sprayed polyurethane and protect it from damage. This is only really necessary after you have used the paint. If you used the router method, you can use the wood patch instead. However, do not use the wood stain and wood burner method together as the markings will be harder to see. Now all you have to do is find a good place to hang it on the wall. You may need to cut a little from the bottom to accommodate the width of your baseboard, but that's not a big deal. What matters is that the bottom of the plate is flush with the floor so the measurements are accurate. As your child grows, you can mark the board as you wish.
The outdoor version
For those of you who prefer to place the growth chart outdoors, iirnTree presents the "Hillbilly Growth Chart".
The materials:
- a flat piece of white oak: 7.5 feet long, 1 foot wide, and about 1/2-inch thick
- Sandpaper
- 1-2 cans of sprayed polyurethane (optional)
- Wood stain (optional)
- Milling cutter and / or wood stove (optional)
- Black / red paint and brush
- Ruler (preferably a "T-square" type)
- A pencil
- A shovel
- Some rocks (big and small)
- A darning stick
- Two bags of instant concrete (optional)
First step: prepare the board
As before, you should first clean the wood and sand the surface. Remove any rough spots, burrs, etc. We chose white oak for the wood this time because it still looks so nice and light. At the same time, it is durable enough to last outdoors for many years.
Step two: prepare the face
As before, mark your measurement lines and their associated numbers. This time make sure you start at the top and work your way down. You'll see why in the next step. You can use paint if you want, but that means you'll need to use even more clear coat. For the exterior version, the router or wood burner methods are preferred. There's no need to make it fancy or pretty as this is the hillbilly version, but you can decorate it if you want. No matter what you do, use lots of clear coats to protect the whole thing from the weather.
Dig, assemble and use
Now is the time to dig a hole. Don't worry, we're not putting intruders in these holes … we're just planting a post. Dig a hole about 1.5 feet deep and place your post upright in the hole. Have someone hold the post upright while you stack small stones around the base. Once that's done, fill the hole with dirt. Stop every few inches and press the dirt down with a stick. The darning stick should be 3 to 6 feet long and thick and heavy. This weight allows it to effectively compact the earth as you ram down repeatedly. Stomp it all over, adding more dirt, darning a little more, and continuing until you reach the top. Once the hole is more or less filled, place your large stones (the largest you can get) around the base of the bar for extra support.
Application: Let your "young Un" go to the growth post and stand upright. Use a pencil above your head to mark the line of their growth. Then, after the child walks away, use your knife to score the post in place. As simple as that.
Conclusion
And so you have two viable methods. Of course, you probably want to add or change certain things to suit your style or needs, and that's fine. In any case, we hope we've given you some good templates to use for ideas. Have fun and remember to protect yourself and your family.
