School Year Picture Frame Ideas and DIY

Welcome back friends. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are all ready for some new projects.

I’m starting out the New Year with a school years photo frame requested by my daughter in law. She wasn’t crazy about the options available online and she wanted an alternative for her 2 sons that are just beginning their school careers.

I had a few things to consider…she didn’t need the name proudly displayed on the frame as she already knows their name. Also, when you’re first starting school, a lot of the frame will have empty spaces for the next 12 years. Live, laugh, love. or the equivalent was also out. And while they boys get a school picture taken every year, those aren’t always the best photos. We need options.

Now, to start my search.

Before I get into a couple of easy DIY’s for school photo frames I have a couple from the internet. This one is from Etsy , made by Oksis for $136.80.

This second one is also from Etsy. This one is made by Thephraseoflife for $74.99.

Also from Etsy, is this school year photo frame with clips from StayGoldenCustom , personalized and listed for $122.

Now for the next level down and maybe more in your price range, I found this school photo frame at the thrift store for only $8.00.

Another one from the thrift store is this little school house, I believe it was $10.

Now it’s my turn. One trip to the thrift store and I came up with this picture collage frame for $3. It holds 8, 4×6 photos but those spaces could easily be divided into multiple pictures.

I also found this metal train frame. While it only holds 6 photos, this train will be perfect for my train loving 4 year old grandson.

First we’ll tackle the train frame. Transfer your train shapes onto a thin, 1/8″ hardboard tempered panel.

Hopefully you’ll be able to raid your scrap pile.

If you like, print out this picture to use as a template for the passenger cars. Each one will hold 3 grade levels. The height of the passenger car is 5″ with a length of 9″.

Use for the front of the train. This one measures 5 1/2 x 9 1/4″ and will hold 2 photos.

I’m using my handy dandy tabletop scroll saw to cut out all the train compartments. While not as accurate, you could also use a handheld jigsaw.

Once the train sections are cut out, sand off any rough edges.

Then outside for 2 coats of a black satin spray paint.

For the frames, I’m using magnetic sheets leftover prizes from a Fallfest game from 1997.

Cut rectangles 2.25 x 2.75″. You’ll need to cut double the amount of frames you have.

From half of the magnetic rectangles, cut frames about a quarter inch in width.

Then back outside for more spray painting.

The black photo frames got visually lost on the black train so I added one more level, a thin piece of plywood cut slightly larger than the photo frame.

Use hot glue to attach the plywood backing to the train then the solid rectangle magnetic sheet to the plywood. The cutout frame magnetic sheet just sticks right on top.

Place your photo behind the cutout frame.

Drill holes in the center of the wheels to screw the frame directly to the wall.

Makes a great border and you can easily add more train cars as your child progresses in school and life.

Line the train cars up flat or slightly askew as if they are going over small bumps and hills.

This little guy is only 4 but already has 11 pictures on his train.

As he gets more years under his belt, I can easily add more train cars and/or move the photos over until there is just one photo per year.

For the second school year picture frame I chose this premade collage frame complete with 8, 4×6 openings. This one will be for my older grandson who is the ripe old age of 8.

Now you may be asking yourself, how would that work for 12 + years of school?

I’m glad you asked, divide each opening into 1, 2, or 4 photos.

You can even leave the larger holes for the major graduation photos.

Now this grandson is only in 2nd grade, so in the typical grade school photo frames, the majority of this frame would be empty.

Here I’ve lined up his photos beginning at birth and progressing to the present. I was able to fit in 19 photos. As he grows older, it will be easy to move the photos around until they each represent just one year of life or one school year.