Quick Way to Track Kids’ Growth Each New Year
Easy project to measure your children’s growth each year with this keepsake chart that can be tucked away when not in use!
Growing up, my dad always insisted on marking my sisters’ and my height. We usually ended up doing it sometime around Christmas or New Years because it was an easy milestone to remember. We did it on the doorstop inside our hallway closet.
Now, my parents are building a new house and planning to move sometime this year. So they’ll have to cut the doorstop out to take our growth chart with them!
Since my husband and I don’t feel like our current house is our forever home, I wanted to come up with a ‘portable’ way to mark our kids’ heights throughout the years. I also didn’t want something that was visible all the time. So I came up with this keepsake that’s very simple to make, keep up with and store!
Materials
- pre-primed 1″x8″x8′
- pencil
- wood burning tool*
If you want to make a family-themed sign for the top you’ll also need aluminum flashing and paint!
Cut to Size
The length you cut your board is totally up to you! My husband is 6’1″, so I assume my son and possibly daughters will be that tall or taller. I wanted plenty of clearance to record their final height. I cut our board to 7 feet so I’d have room at the top for our family name, or Wolf Pack as the case may be! (Follow my metal door hanger tutorial for the how-to!)
But you don’t even have to cut it if you don’t want to! In fact, I encourage you to make it as simple as possible. I’d rather it be less-than-perfect and record your babies’ growth than not even start at all!
Mark Kids’ Height
Line up the kiddos and a ruler…to mark their current heights.
Have the board as upright as possible. We did it in front of our laundry door since there are no baseboards there that would make the board lean.
Have them stand straight with their feet against the board and set a level ruler on their head. Use your pencil to mark on the UNDERSIDE of the ruler however wide you want. I made our marks about 1.5 inches on the right side. I thought I would alternate sides every year to balance it out!
Lay Flat for Babies
If you have a baby around like we do, you can lay the board flat on the ground and mark baby’s length too!
You can also take their measurement from their latest doctor appointment and manually add it to your board as an alternative! Because babies might be even less cooperative than toddlers when it comes to being still!
Burn Their Heights
By all means, stop with pencil marks if that’s all the energy you can muster. I totally get it. I took it a step further since I already had a wood burning tool on hand. I burned along the pencil marks so their heights are more permanent.
That way if I ever decide to paint the board or change how it looks, their heights will still be there!
Label the Marks
To keep it visually uncluttered on the face of my chart, I decided to label the marks on the edge. Don’t forget to include the date!
I had originally marked their heights back in October but never got around to photographing it. And since then Mr. Gus has grown about an inch! Not sure how that happened!
Since the edge is so small, I probably won’t burn the labels, but I should go back over the pencil with pen so it doesn’t smudge!
Store in a Closet
When you’re all finished marking for the year, slide your height growth chart into the back of a closet so you can access it next year but it’s not always in your face!
Other milestones that could serve as your annual reminder:
-Beginning of School Year
-Easter
-Mother’s Day
-End of School Year
-Thanksgiving
-Christmas
-New Years Day
-Wedding Anniversary
Great for Gifting
While I was making our chart, I thought what a great gift idea! If my husband rounded up the kids and made this for me for Mother’s Day I’d be smitten! It’d also be awesome to gift grandparents with all of their grandkids marked in stone (so to speak).
I’ve shared before my love for anything made with my kids’ handprints and this height growth chart keepsake is right up the same alley!
I hope this is a project you can use for yourself or a loved one real soon!
Thanks for Checking In! ~Chelsea
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Anne Copping says
January 5, 2020 at 12:05 pmWhen my kids were little we had a rug with a large medallion in the middle I would lay them on the middle ,take a picture nd the next time you could see how the had grown.