DIY Deployment Wall
October 19, 2019
Here's one for all the military families out there!
Nick is deployed again and I've been wanting to make this "wall" for Jax. We'll just call it a Deployment Wall, because that's pretty much what it is.
Deployments suck...We all know that by now (and if you're new to the deployment game I'm sorry). I thought this wall would be a great way for Jax to visually understand what's going on. He's at a weird age now where he knows Dad is supposed to be home and he realizes he misses him, but he doesn't know how to process that emotion quite yet. We've had a few moments right off the bat, when I was dealing with my own "fresh" deployment emotions as well, where he would randomly say I hug Dad, or ask me if Dad was home, and it would bring a few tears to my eyes. I had to explain that no he's at work right now so we can't hug him. But that inspired me to make this wall for him.
This wall has all the goodies, and is a good way to keep him excited every day about counting down the days until Dad comes home. There a few activities involved that really could be fun for kids of all ages. I'll go on explaining each piece of the wall so that you can personalize your own for your kiddos!
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Left Side
On the left side of the wall I have a cork board with some fun activities. I got the cork board as well as the picture hanger from Target in the $1 bin section! Jax gets to change Dad's weather ☀☁☂☃, which we check everyday on my phone. I just printed out some google images of some cute looking cartoon weather and printed out all of the titles. The extra weathers are pinned onto the board to switch out as the weather changes! He also gets to add a plane onto the board for every flight Dad flies, which he of course loves to do since he is obsessed with ✈ "Dad's plane" ✈. The extras are also pinned to the board. On the board as well as below the board I put a few of my favorite military/homecoming pictures that we took.
Middle Section
The middle section is made up of a couple of shelves with a few personal touches. Of course Dad's time zone he is in is on the clock 🕣up above. I have a chalkboard countdown calendar (from the Target $1 bins) that we change everyday. The jar is filled with the number of candies 🍬 for how many days are left. Jax looks forward to eating a candy everyday and it is also a WONDERFUL visual for everyone. When you see how small of an amount of candies are left it really puts time into a different perspective 😊. On the bottom shelf I printed out a kids world map and placed it in a frame. I did this so that we could circle where on the map Dad is with a wet erase marker. I put one of his stuffed animals that correlates to where he is deployed to, as well as one of Jax's toy planes. Very simple, yet very fun for Jax.
Right Side
Lastly, on the right side I have another $1 bin Target chalkboard sign with a quote that really speaks to me. I hung up an extra pair of Nick's dog tags I had made that have a special quote from us on them. It's a nice personal memento he carries in his pocket every flight. So I feel like we have a piece of him here while he's away. Again, another $1 Target find, I have a kids wall hanger and I hung up Jax's flight suit and aviator goggles. He can dress up like Dad whenever he feels like it!
Final touches
A fun little banner I made to add more color that says Daddys Deployment. All you need is some construction paper and twine/string! I put Jax's favorite "Dad"/Deployment books that we have underneath so that he can choose a story to read every night.
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You can really personalize this space however you like and make it your own! Add personal touches that your kids will love and activities that they would like to participate in. It's good to get them involved. Think of all the emotions you go through when your spouse leaves then amplify that for your kids! They are going through a lot and this is one way to help them understand those emotions.
