Family Crafts: Sensory Board & Studio Apartment
Craft projects are a good creative outlet for the family. They are a way for you to unplug and spend time together working toward a common goal, plus the look on the baby's face when the project is complete is an added bonus! Read further to see how we put together Anaya's Sensory Board and Studio Apartment!
Sensory Board
As babies get older, they begin to develop their senses and become more curious about different textures. You may notice that your child loves to rub their hand on the carpet or any surface that has an interesting texture. Sensory boards encourage curiosity and learning about your environment, as well as help babies develop their motor skills. If that wasn't enough to persuade you, they can be made for little to no cost!
Materials:
- Poster board
- Glue gun/glue sticks
- Teddy Bear
- Halloween fabric
- Ribbon
- Old clothing
- Lego building plate
- Colorful cotton balls
- Letters
All of the material (minus the old clothing and glue gun) were purchased at Dollar Tree. I got the glue gun from Amazon and have had it for so many years. It still works like brand new!
I glued the letters, lego plate, cotton balls, ribbon, and fabric evenly spaced onto the board. The most time consuming part was getting the teddy bear and old clothing on the board. We cut the seams of the teddy bear and removed the stuffing. Then, we glued the fur onto the board like a bear skin rug. For the clothing, we ripped up three pieces from some old pants she couldn't fit. I braided the pieces tightly, tied the ends, and hot glued them into a circle. Then, we glued the fabric circle onto the board.
The entire process took around an hour to put together, but she loved it! It's been one of her favorite things to play with.
The ribbons and the cotton balls were hot glued down, but for safety reasons we always supervise her when she's playing with the board. Just in case something comes off and she tries to put it in her mouth.
Anaya's Studio Apartment
More recently, Anaya has been crawling and exploring all over the house. My mother purchased some diapers for her and they came inside of this large Target box. When we emptied the diapers from the box she started to show a lot of interest in the box. She would crawl in and out of it. So, I got the idea to make her a box studio!
Materials:
- Boxes large enough for the baby to crawl in
- Glue gun
- Knife
- Scissors
- Toys
- Sharpie or Pen
- Smaller boxes
First, I grabbed two of the bigger boxes and used these as the base for her studio. I placed them together and traced where I would need to cut so that I could connect the boxes. I used the hot glue gun to glue down the flaps on the smaller boxes so that I could fit them inside of the bigger box like a puzzle piece. Then, I glued the two boxes together.
I cut a large opening in the top of the bigger box so that it could serve as a sky light. I then cut an opening in the smaller box so she could have a window.
Anaya is pulling herself up, but can't pull herself up unassisted. I wanted to add something inside her Studio so that she could have some help if she wanted to stand up. I cut off pieces of a smaller box so that I could create "built ins."I glued those pieces together until they were no longer flimsy. Then, I cut a small sliver in the bigger box and glued the pieces inside the sliver so that the built ins were exposed and she could use them to pull herself up.
Finally, she has a chair that came with a bar across the top that we can't use anymore. I took the bar from that chair and stuck it over her sky light. I then took another one of her toys and glued it to the back of the box so that she has something to play with.
It took me about two hours to build her studio, but she loves it! I think I'm going to add some glow in the dark stickers on the inside so that she can get some light inside. I put this together for $0! Everything I used I had laying around the house. It was a fun creative outlet and now Baby FraLew can enjoy playtime in her studio apartment!
