How to Make a Kid Art Rail

If you have kids, you have art made by kids. If you're like me, then you know there is NEVER enough space to display all of their creations.

Make A Kid Art Rail

An art rail for kids can be purchased, but they are also fairly easy to make at home. Our family made ours, together -- an almost 3-year-old and 6-year-old, over about 3 days.

​We took a lot of time in between steps. As long as you let the glue dry fully, you could do this faster.

Materials:

• 1 x 3 primed chair rail from hardware store
• various colored glitter
• glue (we used Elmer's leftover from kindergarten)
• clothes pins

Directions:

1. Measure your wall and cut the primed chair rail to fit that space (or combine 2 together -- measure twice, cut once).
2. Paint the chair rail to match your wall or the trim. We painted ours to match the trim.
3. Figure out spacing for your clothes pins -- this lets you know how many clothes pins you'll need to decorate.
4. Decorate the clothes pins. I had the kids smear the glue on 1 side of a clothes pin and then sprinkle glitter on them. (Add more glitter to the places they miss, if you're particular about the finished look.)
5. Let the glue dry fully.
6. Coat the glittered side of the clothes pin with another layer of glue or mod podge. This is optional. I did it to reduce the amount of glitter that would fall off the clothes pins over time and use. Let dry fully.
7. Measure and mark your chair rail where you want to place the clothes pins.
8. If doing a pattern -- which my kids insisted on, layout the clothes pins where they should go and make sure you like the look.
9. Draw a line of glue at each spot and place a clothes pin. Try to get the clothes pins in the same spot on the chair rail -- we left a certain amount of the clothes pin hanging down and off of the chair rail. Let dry fully.
10. Hang the chair rail. Keep the clothes pins facing down.

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Extra Tips:

• If you sink your screws, you can cover over them on the chair rail with some putty and paint. I wish we'd done this.
• Hang at a height that your kids can add and remove art.
• Realize that you're still going to have too much kid art. My husband has already asked us to make a second chair rail for lower down in the same location.
• I let the kids use tape to attach more of their art to their bedroom walls. They really like having their own art in their room.