Monday, March 9, 2015

Sensory Board

Lincoln has successfully broken in everything in his nursery.

He's smeared poop on his freshly painted accent wall.
Spit up on the new rug...and chair...and dresser...and sheets.
Thrown his head into the door moulding.
Oh, and broken in this new mama's heart too, but I know he isn't done with that mission.

I think I'm most happy that he is truly enjoying his sensory board. We worked hard on it before he was born and as I was 9 months pregnant painting tiny touch ups along the edges, I often thought to myself, "I hope he actually gives a shit about this."

Photo by Patchwork Photography


He does.
But I would have been OK if he didn't.

Part of our morning ritual is peek-a-boo in the top mirrors and then he gets to touch the LEGOs. Until he pulls one off and eats it. Then my morning ritual will be crying and feeling like a bad mom for a few months and writing in my therapy journal during his nap.

I've listed out the items that we used to make the sensory board at the bottom.


We were originally going to use fake grass for the bottom center square, but the grass pieces pulled off too easily. Instead we went with a shower mat wrapped around a square of plywood painted green.



We used the Behr sample size paints from Home Depot and had plenty. They are only a few dollars each.


Anthony made a cleat set up to mount it to the wall.


A large cleat at the top and a smaller one at the bottom.

The lamp at the top was spliced with a cord to plug into the wall and connected to the light switch in the green square. We bought a green bulb for the light because color conservation wasn't part of the plan.


Products used:

Plywood sheet - 1/2" thick
Behr paint samples
Mirrors: Ikea LOTS mirrors - 2 packs
Ikea KVINTETT wall light
Green light bulb
LEGO Blue base plates - blue has been discontinued, but the green plates are the same size
Yellow steering wheel
Abacus - Ikea has one that would work just as well and is cheaper
Red light switch - from Home Depot
Clear bath mat

THEN:


NOW:

 
He slaps and spins those abacus beads like its his job.