Using Pinterest to Find and Organize Ideas for Your Family (plus a list of folks to follow!)

by Kara on January 23, 2012

The following post is by editor Kara Fleck.

Using Pinterest, the virtual bulletin board, has become one of my favorite ways to find and organize ideas for my family. I’m a visual person and being able to see my bulletin boards, and organize them by type, is more helpful to me than any other link favorites documenting system I’ve used in the past.

It also appeals to me because it is a paperless way to plan and organize, and the fewer piles of paper we have around here the better!

I love that I can organize the ideas I find for my family and home by season, type, age and stage – really, any category that I can come up with!

If you aren’t currently on Pinterest and you don’t know what all the fuss about “pinning” is, let me share a few tips and tricks with you today, as well as some of my favorite people to follow for kids and family ideas.

Getting Started

One of the first things you’re going to want to do once you set up an account on Pinterest is to create some bulletin boards for yourself. I have boards for different ages/grades, types of crafts, tutorials, and for the home as well as for holiday ideas.

You can edit the boards you create later, and in the future I would encourage you to customize them as specifically as you can so that they will be the most useful for you, but for now just create a few boards with some basic categories.

Here are a few board name suggestions to get you started:

Kids’ Rooms
Holidays
Snack and Meal Ideas
Crafts
Books
Birthdays

Once you have created your boards, you can begin pinning ideas into them. As you go along, you’ll probably discover categories that suit your needs and you can get more specific. I know my board categories have evolved as I’ve been using Pinterest longer.

For example, I’ve created Pinterest boards for each of my children with their favorite animal (owls, horses, penguins, and foxes) and my 10 year old has been curating a board of paper dolls. I’m compiling Valentine’s Day ideas, too.

If you need more help with Pinterest, Megan of Sorta Crunchy has written a wonderful series of tutorials:

What to Pin?

How do you find things to pin? It is easy! Pin items as you come across things you would like to try on the blogs you read as you go about your normal web wanderings.

Pin While You Surf

More and more bloggers are adding “Pin it” buttons to their posts. Here on Simple Kids, you can find them at the bottom of the posts. Simply click the red and white “Pin it” button, write in your description, choose what board to add it to and ta da! You’ve made a pin!

Pinterest also has a button that you can download to your toolbar so you can pin sites that don’t have buttons already on them.

Pinning from the Pinterest website

When you are on the Pinterest website, there is a search box and it is easy to use, especially if you are seeking out a specific idea or person. I’ve used this feature recently to look up items related to sourdough, Chinese New Year, and painting with kids.

But what if you’re just looking for inspiration and don’t know exactly what you are looking for? One of the best ways to start finding ideas is to simply start following others.

The majority of the things that I pin I find from following others and seeing what they pin. If you’re not interested in every single thing they pin, no problem! Just follow the individual boards you are specifically interested in.

Try searching for your friends or your favorite bloggers on Pinterest and follow their boards. See who they follow and try following a few of those people as well.

Here are a few lists of people that I follow, as a suggestion:

Simple Living Media on Pinterest

Simple Kids (Kara Fleck, that’s me!)
Simple Mom (Tsh Oxenreider)
Simple Bites (Aimee Wimbush-Bourque)
Simple Homeschool (Jamie Martin)
Simple Organic (Nicole Bennett)

Simple Kids Contributors on Pinterest

Other Terrific People to Follow

Amy Clark (Mom Advice)
Kimara Wise (Wee Folk Art)
Mel Avila (Play Activities)
Impress Your Kids
Melissa Taylor (Imagination Soup)
Jessica Fisher (Life As Mom)
Megan Tietz (Sorta Crunchy)
Alicia Bayer (Magic and Mayhem)
Smile and Wave
Sally Faulkner (With Eager Hands)
Mandi Ehman (Life Your Way)
Lil Blue Boo
Allison McDonald (No Time for Flashcards)
Se7en Hoods
Amanda Soule (SouleMama)
Shaina Olmanson (Food for My Family)
Debi Huang (Go Explore Nature)
Modern Parents, Messy Kids

Pinterest also has a Kids category that shows what all users are pinning related to kids and family.

Now What?

Okay, you’re on Pinterest, you’ve made a few boards. Now what? Well, get started creating! Put those terrific ideas and tips into action!

Nicole, of Simple Organic, has started a link up for all of those wonderful Pinterest ideas that get put into action. If you need a little motivation to move your Pinterest finds into real life, perhaps linking up with Simple Organic’s From Pinterest to Real Life monthly link ups would work for you?

Need an Invitation to Pinterest?

Do you need an invitation to Pinterest? I’d be happy to send you one! Simply email me, or leave a note here in the comments, with your email address and I’ll invite you (note: I don’t check my email more than once or twice day, so be a bit patient with me when waiting for a response, okay?)

Already on Pinterest?

Are you already on Pinterest? Leave me a note in the comments with your username/link and I’ll look you up!

Happy pinning!

{ top image credit }

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Written by Kara Fleck

Kara Fleck is the editor of Simple Kids. She lives in Indiana with her husband Christopher and their four children. You can also find her at Rockin' Granola, where things are "a little bit crunchy and a little bit rock'n'roll."