• 0 items$0.00
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

  • BLOG
    • Knitting
    • Crochet
    • Latch Hook
    • Macramé
    • Punch Needle
  • ABOUT
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • YouTube

Reading Rainbow & DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-Ups

June 2, 2014 6 Comments

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Last week’s Reading Rainbow Kickstarter launch made quite the splash. It ushered my beloved childhood TV show back into the zeitgeist, and apparently, into my creative brain. Between that and the imminent start of summer reading, I have got books on the brain! As a librarian, summer reading is when we shake our professional money makers (kinda literally). We work our butts off creating an as-close-to-magic-as-we-can-get summer of encouraging informal learning, parents’ involvement in that learning, and making learning fun.

Some teacher friends of mine forget that summertime = showtime for us informal educators. Essentially, what I do during the summer at work is try to keep kids from losing what they worked all year to master in school so they don’t start the fall behind. (For more of my thoughts on summer learning, and what’s different about it today then when I was a kid, scroll to the bottom of this post.)

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Summer Reading for Grown-ups!

This week I decided to embrace my currently-bookish creative mind and share a simple idea for grown-ups to get in on – and DIY – summer reading. To celebrate the start of summer reading around the country,* I decided some library crafting is in order!

*Globe? I don’t actually know if summer reading is a thing outside the US. Please advise, international readers. 

While your local library might have summer reading programs for adults, I’ve worked at only a few libraries fortunate enough to afford programs for adult summer reading. This log is for us grown-ups who are sans-summer-reading who are looking to get a little nostalgic and make a dent in our reading lists. As a bonus, making your own log gets you stretching your creative muscles too!

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Supplies

cardboard
paper in a variety of colors
tapestry needle
embroidery floss
push pin
ruler
pen
scissors

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Directions

Cut your cardboard and paper into rectangles that are all the same size. My cardboard was 5×7 inches, so I just cut all my paper into 5×7 rectangles. Fold your cardboard and papers in half widthwise.

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Mark the inside of your cardboard with little notches that are 1/8 of an inch apart.

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Use your push pin to poke holes right in the crease of your cardboard along the notches you drew.

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Here’s what the cardboard looks like on the outside as you go.

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Next, use your cardboard as a template for punching evenly placed holes in the spines of all of your folded pieces of paper. I recommend poking the holes as shown from the inside of the cardboard. The cardboard can more easily take a beating than your papers.

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

When all your papers are punched, stack them up in ROYGBIV order, aligning their tiny holes. You can set the cardboard template aside.

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Sew the spine of the book together with a basic running stitch, knotting the end on the inside of the book.

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

Trim your thread and you’re all set! Tune in later this week for my summer reading recommendations and ideas for DIYing your summer reading, learning and crafting. 

DIY Summer Reading Log for Grown-ups at handsoccupied.com

A final note on summer learning…

Summer reading isn’t just summer reading anymore for many public libraries. It’s a well-rounded, often-hands-on learning program incorporating reading, creating, and STE(A)M skill building. These days, summer learning programs in Chicago require reading 20 minutes a day, completing creative activities (doing a craft, producing a music video, etc.), and discovering something new (like learning an animal fact at the zoo). What would motivate kids and teens do so much work? Completing the requirements means they win a prize at the end and are eligible for a large prize raffle.

BTW, Chicago has great programs to help families get access to museums and zoos for free with a library card. In case you were wondering. ;) Libraries have come a long way, even from my 90s childhood, when library marketing was all about the books.

(Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always love Arthur. And this video and song are everything. Ev. ry. thing.)

This post was not sponsored. The supply list, as with many of my tutorials, contains affiliate links. All of my opinions about summer learning are my own, and not reflective of my past or present employers. 

Filed Under: Back to School, How-to, Summer Tagged With: chicago, diy, diy notebook, levar burton, reading list, reading log, reading rainbow, summer learning, summer reading

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

Previous Post: « Weekly Reader
Next Post: Summer Reading List »

Reader Interactions

DID YOU LIKE THIS POST?
Visit similar articles...

  • How-to: Chainmaille 101 & Chainmaille EarringsHow-to: Chainmaille 101 & Chainmaille Earrings
  • Attempting a Giant Pom Pom CostumeAttempting a Giant Pom Pom Costume
  • Hands Occupied Studio is Open!Hands Occupied Studio is Open!
  • Moving in to the Hands Occupied StudioMoving in to the Hands Occupied Studio

DON’T MISS ANOTHER UPDATE

Comments

  1. Amy Plunk!

    June 3, 2014 at 9:18 am

    Wait! What is this STE(A)M skill building program?? I want more details on that for sure!

    Reply
    • Heidi

      June 3, 2014 at 1:18 pm

      Hi Amy! There are a lot of programs throughout the CPL system designed to teach kids and teens science, tech, engineering, art and math skills. To earn a “discover” point on their summer reading logs, kids have to do something stemmy, whether that’s attending one of CPL’s STEAM programs, visiting MSI, or reading an encyclopedia entry about manta rays and telling us what they learned. I meant it when I said summer reading has evolved! :)

      Reply
  2. Alexis @ Persia Lou

    June 3, 2014 at 12:36 pm

    I grew up on Reading Rainbow too, and I love this little log and the idea of keeping an adult reading log! If you had a second to come by and link up with us at The Makers link party over on my blog, that would be great!

    Reply
    • Heidi

      June 3, 2014 at 1:19 pm

      Totally! Thanks for the invite :D – looks like it’s full now, but I marked my calendar for next week’s!

      Reply
  3. danielle @ this picture book life

    July 7, 2014 at 11:42 am

    I love this idea!! So good.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. DIY Reading Log - Inspiration DIY says:
    July 30, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    […] See it HERE! […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply to DIY Reading Log - Inspiration DIY Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

UPDATES BY EMAIL

Monthly highlights sent to your inbox.

Find Me Elsewhere, If You’re There

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
Latch Hook by Heidi GustadDiscover Unique Items

Footer

INSTAGRAM

handsoccupied

Yarn craft designer & author. Into intarsia knits, latch hook, color & vintage-modern style.
❤️ Email for pattern support
👇🏻 Book, Patterns, Tutorials

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
Like a riding a bike! June guarded the neighborhoo Like a riding a bike! June guarded the neighborhood while I shot a new crochet tutorial today. With any luck, editing will go smoothly & I’ll be posting new videos to YouTube regularly soon! Got any requests for tutorial topics? 
.
#handsoccupied #crochet #studiodog #crochettutorial
This yoke deserved a mid-blocking closeup, don’t This yoke deserved a mid-blocking closeup, don’t you think? ❤️💛💙
.
Pattern: modified #soldotnacrop sweater / yarn: various from my stash
If you look closely, you’ll see I’m casually k If you look closely, you’ll see I’m casually knitting from one sweater into another here, no big deal. (What can I say, I lost a game of yarn chicken. 😂) I almost didn’t post this because I was worried someone might have some nonsense to say about my ability to knit. Then I remembered I can’t care about that. Silly me, I almost forgot myself! 
.
Speaking of which, dang it’s good to have my mental health back consistently after the past couple of years. The anxious parts of my personality are just chilling, rather than constantly screaming that my work isn’t good enough to share. The confident parts of me that matter have me creating (and starting to share my creations & process with strangers and friends) again! 
.
Anybody else feel like they are beginning to return to themselves, so to speak, this spring?
I’m feeling better, & all my [big, bad bug] proj I’m feeling better, & all my [big, bad bug] project needs is a couple of short sleeves! I’ll be finishing this sweater *just* before it gets too warm to wear, but isn’t that always how it goes? 🫠🧶 
.
#knittersofinstagram #soldotnacrop #handsoccupied #knitincolor #springknitting
Just divided the sleeves on this quick sweater, wh Just divided the sleeves on this quick sweater, which has unsurprisingly turned into a love letter to primary colors. ❤️💛💙 The heart stripe is a wee tweak I incorporated, and I don’t regret it! 
.
 #handsoccupied #soldotnacrop #strandedcolorwork #knitting #yokesweater
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 / Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework / Branding by Ink + Mortar
All Site & Shop Policies / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy