Fun Shaped Busy Boards for Toddlers

There are many examples of busy boards posted on the internet and for sale on various craft sites such as ETSY.com. For the most part they tend to be in square or rectangular shapes. My only contribution to the busy board craft is to design the boards in some fun shapes that toddlers can easily recognize.

This Instructable will show how to take various fun shapes you come across and turn them into the proper sized busy board. Some of the shapes I have used are a sports car, fire truck, beetle car and various dinosaurs. Use your own imagination to find a shape your child might like and play with.

The attachments I place on the busy boards can all be purchased at your local hardware or online at Amazon. I even purchased some wooden toys on Amazon and repurposed them on my busy boards. The attachments include:

· Zippers

· Webbed Buckles

· Velcro Strap

· Barrel Bolt Lock

· Toggle Latch

· Cabinet Latch

· Hook Latch

· Hasp Latch

· Sash Lock

· Wood Drawer Knobs

· Wooden Axle Pegs

· Wooden Beads

· Wooden Toy Wheels

· Wooden Gears

· Flexible Door Stopper

· Student Learning Clock

· Wooden Letter and Numbers Learning Toys

· Wooden Board Gear Toy

I used a simple pantograph drawing tool to enlarge the pictures I found. The pantograph is really a series of parallelograms connected with some linkages that allow the sides to move. I had the linkages set to 2¼ magnification or enlargement ratio. You have to anchor one point to your desk and trace your drawing so the enlarged image was produced on a piece of sturdy poster board. Once I cut out the image on the poster board, I would use this as my template to trace the pattern onto a ½” thick piece of birch plywood.

After the shape of your busy board is traced to the plywood you need to saw it out. You can use any number of tools to accomplish this. You can use something as simple as a hand held jig saw or sable saw. I happen to use a stationary band saw I have in my basement woodshop with a ¼” wide saw blade. This small blade allows the cutting of some pretty sharp curves.

I should mention here that you will have to make some rectangular doors with any leftover ½” thick plywood you have. I usually make the doors either 3 or 4 inches wide and maybe 3 inches tall. Then round the corners a little bit for safety.

After you have cut your board you need to sand it smooth. I use an oscillating spinal sander to smooth the curves on the edges and a hand vibrating sander to smooth the flat surface. Sometimes you have to hand sand to reach fine curves and sharp corners.

I usually paint the busy board itself with a latex paint that is brushed on. I will apply 2 or 3 coats and fine sand in between each coat. Once dry, I apply a thin coat of spray varnish or polyacrylic to give it some protection and a glossy appearance.

Other wood pieces are usually spray painted. This would be the wooden wheels, knobs, gears, beads and doors. It takes 2 or 3 coats of spray paint to achieve a nice glossy appearance. Again, I fine sand in between coats.

Next comes the fun part. Where you decide to place the various hardware elements and wooden toy parts is completely up to you. I first placed the elements on loosely to see where each can fit comfortably. You don’t want any hardware piece to interfere with the rotation or functioning of other elements. You can try out various layouts and see what looks more pleasing to you and your child. There is no right way to lay out all the hardware and elements. Just make it interesting for your toddler.

Once you decide on a layout, attach the hardware with the appropriate size screws. I used ½” x #6 screws so the tips don’t go through the back of the plywood and cause harm. Other items may have to be attached differently. I glue the wooden letters and numbers on with epoxy glue. The 1" hinges should be attached with the small screws that come with the hinges. I use a clamp to hold the doors at a right angle so I can attached the hinges evenly. Under the small doors you may want to place a picture of the toddlers favorite cartoon or super hero.

For the wooden wheels and gears you will have to drill a hole the diameter of the axle peg so it can be glued into place through the center hole of the wheel or gear. I put a little Vaseline on the underside of the wheel so any excess glue will not stick to the wheel and keep it from turning. The zippers and snaps have to be attached with screws on each corner using countersink washers to give it a finished appearance. I used a leather punch or hole punch to make a clean hole on each corner of the zipper.

In the introduction are some various shaped busy boards or activity boards I have made. My take on the busy board fabrication craft is to make your boards in interesting and fun shapes for a toddler to play with.