Julie Finn
Whether they’re made from wood and metal or plastic and more plastic, there’s no need for a clipboard to enter the waste stream at the end of its first life, not when there are so many great ways to upcycle it!
If you’ve got an unloved clipboard that you wish you didn’t, check out this list of my favorite upcycled clipboard crafts. Get inspired and then get crafting!
1. Chalkboard Sign
I love the idea that you can own a chalkboard signboard and repurpose it as your everyday clipboard when you’re not taking your cheezy first-day-of-school pictures. Free free to also loan it out for birth announcement, new baby, graduation, and engagement photo shoots.
2. Chore Chart
This isn’t the cutest project on this list, but it IS a very useful project. Think of all the chores that are now going to get done without fuss! If you’ve got more time, pretty the clipboard up first with paint or decoupaged paper.
3. Christmas Countdown
I am such a sucker for Christmas countdown calendars! You can create this project exactly as instructed, but there’s also room on each tag to include a special Christmas activity or the verse of a poem.
4. Clipboard Easel Calendar
I think that you could also DIY the easel for this project, but I love the idea of using an easel to upcycle a clipboard into one of those tabletop calendars. I think it would be especially fun to create your own page-a-day calendar this way! Print a calendar date on both the front and back of a page to create less waste.
5. Clipboard + Picture Frame
This is a clever way to upcycle both an old clipboard AND an old picture frame, especially because the frame and the glass are far easier to upcycle, so it’s usually that picture frame back that gets tossed. Not this time!
6. Clipboard Stand
Perhaps all you need to give new life to your clipboard and make it genuinely useful is this easy-to-make stand to hold it. Use it to hold reference material, or simply a family photo on a tabletop.
7. Coaster Clipboard
Do you ever hang onto those chipboard coasters that you sometimes get at bars? Add some post-it notes, a binder clip, and pretty paper, and you can turn that coaster into a clipboard! Apparently, this clipboard is also the perfect size for an American Girl doll to use.
8. Dry Erase Clipboard
A clipboard, a photo pocket, and some fun worksheets make for an entertaining dry-erase experience for little ones.
9. Fabric-Covered Magnetic Clipboard
Sometimes all you need is to make the clipboard that you own more useful. This tutorial does that by adding an adhesive magnetic sheet to the back of the clipboard, allowing it to stick to a refrigerator or filing cabinet. It’s also covered in fabric, so it’s pretty!
10. Fun To-Do List
Here’s where you can plan all of your adventures!
11. Gallery Wall
This is a low-commitment way to have a gallery wall display in your home. Just switch out whatever you get tired of!
12. Giant Clipboard Wall Easel
Use up some more of your large pieces of stash wood and make your favorite kiddo a wall easel that masquerades as a large standing clipboard.
13. Goal Board
You can display all of your short-term and long-term goals in one place!
14. Long Clipboard Notepad
And don’t forget to make yourself a fun easel! This one is long and narrow and mounts to a wall. It’s meant for jotting down notes, but you’re welcome to fingerpaint and doodle on it, too.
15. Large-Format Clipboard From Stash Wood
Here’s what you do if, instead of having a clipboard you don’t want, you want a clipboard that you don’t have! Use upcycled or stash wood (Freecycle, friends and family, or the Restore are great sources for secondhand wood) and binder clips to DIY this large-format, super versatile clipboard.
16. Loom
Y’all know that I’m obsessed with weaving, right? Well, here’s a project to turn an old clipboard into a functioning loom!
17.Mini Clipboard Valentine
This is a cute little project that upcycles some scrap wood into miniature clipboards that can hold a valentine and even a piece of candy! With some supervision, even pretty young kids can do the sawing to make these valentines.
18. Organizer
Not only is this clipboard covered in pretty paper, but it organizes all your stuff, too!
19. Road Trip Case
Glue a clipboard to a lap-sized storage box, and put some fun art supplies and paper games in the box. Your kid will never whine in the car again!
20. Tabletop Clipboard Frame
Your clipboard frame doesn’t have to be solely wall-mounted. Add a peg to a homemade wooden clipboard to make it steady for a tabletop.
P.S. Want even more upcycled clipboard crafts? Check out a whole other list of projects right here!
