Activities & Days Out / 23 May, 2018 / Nanny Anita

Busy Boards for Toddlers

BB is literally into everything! He likes to get into the cupboards and pull everything out. Light switches are his favourite and he even knows how to unlock the locks on the stair gates and guinea pig’s cage! At least with the stair gates you have to kind of lift them up with your foot to open them properly. The other day we were sitting in a room that’s had half doors put on while we have the puppy in there. I turned my back for 10 seconds to get the puppy from biting my foot and when I turned back BB was standing on the rocking chair trying to open the gate! At that point I thought “right, it’s time to make a busy board for toddlers to keep those hands off of things he can’t have.”

Don’t get me wrong I love letting him explore, but having him pull out all of his Mum’s bone china really isn’t an option. Plus a busy board will allow him to develop his fine motor skills in a safer environment that standing on a rocking chair.

Make sure you follow my activities for toddlers board on Pinterest for more ideas. Don’t forget to save the pin for later. 

You will need:

• Wooden board
• Locks
• Door Stoppers
• Calculator
• Door Hook
• Plastic tubing
• Door knocker
• Safety chains
• Screws
• Drill

This is not an exhaustive list. There are many other things that you could add.

I have to admit that I didn’t actually put it all together! Shock horror, I know! I really wanted to, but my skills with using a drill aren’t exactly great.

You do need to make sure that the wood that you are using is thick enough for the screws. You don’t want any of them poking out of the back. I bought a board of MDF from Wickes and then cut it in half. The two halves were then put together to create one nice thick board.

Once you have screwed everything down, I would toddler check it. My creative arts teacher, Mrs Clarke, at Norland used to toddler check our creations to make sure they could withstand a rough handling. Many of us had our hard work reduced to tatters though this. However, it did teach a valuable lesson. Check to make sure your little one can’t pull things off and that nothing is poking out that could be dangerous. I would actually regularly check it to make sure that it is safe.

BB absolutely loves his busy board for toddlers. It does help keep him from trying to climb the stairs in the playroom! I do have to stay next to the board to make sure that he can’t pull it over on himself. I have to work on making some sort of stand for it. Hopefully once he can stand independently he won’t pull on it so much. The only problem is that I wish I had one of these in every room now!

If you liked this busy board for toddlers be sure to check out my nursery rhyme puppets and posting activity.

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