Ideas for kid's all-wood clipboard or writing tray?

Hello forum,

I tried to post this a few minutes ago but it never showed up so here’s take two.

This year I am going to build a new dining table (there, I said it, now it HAS to happen!). Our current table is a beat up department-store garage-sale item, and as such we haven’t cared much about protecting it from the ravages of our three young kids. The top is marred and rather colorful from them writing/drawing on it.

When we get the new table in place, we will want to protect it from this sort of damage! Hence I’m thinking about making them each a little clipboard or portable writing/drawing surface. Something they will like enough that they’ll WANT to use it instead of writing or drawing directly on the table.

I don’t want a hunk of ugly fiberboard with a big ugly metal clip at the top. I’d like to make the whole thing out of wood, for starters. There’s GOT to be some cool way to use springy bits of wood to hold paper to a writing surface – and of course it’s got to be easy for kids to operate, and durable enough that they won’t destroy it. I’m thinking along the lines of attaching a few of something like these along one edge:

http://www.qlimb.com/

but larger/thicker for durability, and with a tiny “handle” on the middle bit so they can pull it up to get paper underneath.

Thoughts? Concepts? Ideas? Anyone done something like this before?