One of our favorite activities with the kids is making up stories, retelling stories and just general fun playing pretend. We often find ourselves using props such as model dinosaurs, cars, blocks to build houses, castles and bridges and dishes for making food. When we made our Clifford story retelling puppets we had such a blast I knew we had to come up with another story telling tool. So, I give you our very own DIY Magnet Busy Board for Story Telling Fun!
Story retelling and story telling is such an important skill for little ones! It improves their reading comprehension, promotes a greater understanding of sequencing and increases creativity and vocabulary. You can’t go wrong spending time story telling with your little ones.
Our DIY magnet busy board was fun and easy to make, and we did it with a few extras we had lying around. All we had to purchase was some spray paint and magnet strip. Follow the steps below to make your very own.
Making Your Magnet Busy Board
Materials: old pan, spray paint, branch, paint (I used oil paints), varnish, magnets, super glue…your imagination!
The first step was to find an old pan. I wish I had a picture of it before my dear husband sanded all the rust off. It was getting impossible to use because the rust would always appear after washing. So, we decided to repurpose it.
With a little spray paint, it looked beautiful!
Then, my I enlisted my husband’s help again to cut some pieces of firewood into little “cookies” if you will. We then sanded them down, so they looked like this:
Next came the fun part! I got to draw and paint on the cookies. I chose things that I knew my kids would like…like dinosaurs, a sun, a tree and a cat. You can see that they’re simple, but easily identifiable.
Finally, we varnished them. We dipped them in a thinned out varnish so the paint wouldn’t run. We did about 3 coats, letting them dry in between each coat. The last step was of course to add the magnets! I just used regular strips of magnet and a bit of super glue and let them dry in the sun.
The DIY magnet busy board is now ready to use! The kids already started using them on the pan and the refrigerator. I look forward to many story telling adventures ahead!
So, what do you think of our DIY magnet busy board? I’d love to see how yours turns out if you make one!
This is a lovely idea. My kids would love to join in with the making of the Magnet Board as well! How clever! #familyfun
Glad you liked it! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
This is brilliant. We’re not quite at the storytelling stage but we’re almost there. You could just use the magnets anywhere like you suggest. Can’t wait to give this a go!! Thanks for linking up to #familyfun
Yes! My youngest (17 mo) is enjoying practicing using the magnets and moving them between the tray and fridge…good practice for those little fingers 🙂 Glad you enjoyed!
Wow what a fab idea I would quiet honestly never have thought of it but My two would absolutely love it. Thank you for sharing it at #familyfun xx
Let me know if you make one 🙂 Would love to see how it turns out. Thanks!