Google ‘Pinterest Sensory Board Ideas’ & a list of handmade sensory boards fill my screen. It can be rather overwhelming with so many ideas floating around the internet.
In Montessori, young children are often presented with tactile boards to learn about textures, boards that teach them practical life skills like buttoning up a shirt, lacing & tying shoe laces, zippers…
They provide wonderful sensorial activities but it is NOT easy to find ready made materials. DIY sounds wonderful – on paper. That’s until I realised ready-made sensory boards are usually handmade & costs an arm or a leg.
So, I gave myself a challenge to make one for under $20!
Everything you see in the photos are from Daiso. (Gotta love Daiso!!!)
I didn’t use everything I bought eventually so I guess it is even lower than $20!
What you will need:
Hot glue gun & a pack of hot glue sticks
A wooden board
Knick knacks you can find – zippers, buttons, glass tiles, smooth cloth, rough felt, sandpaper, pom poms, led push light, wooden sticks, pipe cleaners… the possibilities are endless.
Big E was excited to embark on this new project with me. We had some great bonding time decorating the board where he’ll decide what & how many items to stick on. I didn’t plan on Baby E pulling everything out, even when it’s securely stuck to the board. Babies seriously have some sorta superhuman strength!!! As expected, Big E screamed at his baby brother when Baby E ‘destroyed’ his handiwork.
Plan B – find things that are not easy to get pulled out.
Here’s how the sensory board finally looks like:
Whew… for a $20 challenge, I spent almost one week to get it done. From having a rough idea, to buying all the items, to arranging & gluing the pieces (especially the tiles one by one), to fixing up the damage…
Baby E better be playing with it for a long long time!
I found some pretty awesome sensory boards you may want to buy instead if DIY isn’t quite your thing: (link below the pictures)
- Melissa & Doug Wooden Sensory Boards
- Montessori Touch Boards
- Fabric Box Tactile Sense
- Etsy Popular Sensory Boards
What other stuff do you DIY at home? Do share what activities or ideas you would love to read on Coffee & Toast Mama. I’ll be happy to share them with you!
Xoxo,
Jingyi
