It’s Coming Together!

Here it is! Today I decided on the final layout for Noah’s busy board. Nothing is glued or screwed down yet, but it will be soon! Today my lovely parents have helped me scrounge through everything I and they have to find just the right pieces for the board. We weren’t able to use all recycled items and did have to pick a few things up from the dollar store, but I think we managed pretty well in the end, spending very little money over all, not to mention, we found a toy car in the garage that belonged to my dad when he was a kid 50 years ago!

While my parents were searching through our garage, I decided to see what Noah thought of the alphabet magnets on one of our baking tins. I did have to buy a smaller baking tin to fit Noah’s board, but I thought I would let him have a quick play to make sure it was worth including. The magnets did make their way into his mouth a number of times, so they are a toy that can only be used with supervision, but he still seemed to enjoy them.

After my parents had gone through their stuff and I had gone through Noah’s toys to see if anything could be recycled, it was time to lay everything out. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, this process was just all to interesting for Noah. All the little trinkets and then just the board itself for some reason were just too exciting for Noah to stay away from.

I ended up having to move everything out to the front entrance and lock Noah into the living room with the baby gate. He we not pleased to put it lightly. So, with Noah screaming in the background, my mom and I laid things out, rearranged, and laid them out again before we finally settled on a layout:

In the end, Noah’s busy board will include:

• a baking sheet for magnet letters
• a push light
• a ‘cheers’ speaking button from the thrift store
• a calculator
• a small manual clock
• colourful wood numbers (just for design really)
• a string of jingle bells
• a string of beads
• small cupboard doors
• a magnifying glass
• some polished rocks
• a beetle in some kind of plastic outer covering
• wood cuts
• a piece of chain
• a door knob
• a door stopper
• a couple wood handles, one with wooden rings on
• a wheel
• a door knocker
• a thin rope tied between hinges
• a toy to drop toy cars through

I’m really happy with how it is looking. Now I just have to get everything screwed and glued down.

Next post will be Noah’s impressions. My fingers are crossed that he enjoys it! It has turned into quite the family project!