How To DIY Busy Boards
(that your kids will love!)
Toddlers are a busy bunch, right??!! Besides being a blogger I also have a small home daycare and have been working with little ones for a looooong time!! I’ve wanted to put a busy board together for awhile…I knew the kids would love it!
I actually had 2 different boards in mind to DIY; I wanted to make one that focused on fine motor skill development and one that was more sensory and incorporated fun textures.
Dollar Tree was where I found most of the things for my busy boards. They were stocked for back to school and had all kinds of cool, fun things I could use.
Raid your junk drawer…there are probably all kinds of things in there that could be used for your own busy board.
What Can You Use To Attach To A Busy Board?
I knew I wanted to have some items that teach skills they will need for getting dressed themselves; for this skill I’m adding a zipper, paracord bracelets for opening/closing clips, velcro, and shoe tying.
Dollar Tree had so many textured items to use. I found some fuzzy circle clips, a sequined sleeve for a coffee cup, a magnet, and some pretty ribbon.
I grabbed a few wooden items…I actually didn’t know what I was going to do with them but got them anyway. Some of my projects are free form and I start by going in one direction and end up going in a complete opposite way!
I bought a couple of door locks and a light switch at Walmart. I rifled through my tool box and found a few more interesting things.
Making The Board
Using a panel from Lowe’s that measured 16 x 48 inches, I cut it down the middle with my saw to make the 2 busy boards. I painted the boards with 2 coats of white semi gloss paint and let the boards dry overnight before moving on the the next step.
Adding The Busy To The Board
I painted a quick coat of colorful acrylic paints on all the wooden items.
It took me awhile to figure out how I was going to lay everything out on the boards. I didn’t even end up using everything I purchased.
I started by attaching all the wooden items to the boards. I drilled pilot holes before attaching with screws to the boards (the wood is pretty weak and would have split if I just tried to screw them directly on.)
I used a small hinge to attach the wood square and added a knob to make it a door. Underneath I Mod Podged a cute kitty picture so when the kids open the door they have a surprise waiting! I also glued a row of wood disks and wrote 1-5 on them.
I USED A COMBINATION OF GORILLA GLUE, SCREWS, UPHOLSTERY NAILS, & STRONG VELCRO TO ATTACH EVERYTHING TO THE BOARDS.
THE FUZZY CIRCLE CLIPS AND RIBBON WERE ZIP TIED TO THE KNOBS.
I love that the kids love these busy boards! I try to incorporate as many Montessori based learning toys into my little program to encourage fun learning while the kids are here. You can see some of my favorite learning toys for kids here.
A FEW OF MY FAVORITE LEARNING TOYS!
PIN IT FOR LATER
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