It’s really no fun when you are sick, and it’s raining, and Mum won’t let you watch TV….
It’s no fun at all, until Mum goes a little overboard and makes a huge, DIY geoboard, and adds all kinds of crazy accessories!
It’s funny how a simple idea grows into something much cooler than you thought it would be! This is exactly what happened with our geoboard.
We started with two large flat pieces of foam taped together for the base (we used two pieces as we didn’t have foam thick enough). Then the crazy started when Noah and I began to think of things we could poke into the foam, and things we could wrap around or thread onto the poking pieces.
We ended up with a great selection of items to use on our geoboard.
To poke into the foam:
- push pins
- little nails from our tap tap set
- plastic sword tooth picks
- small bamboo fruit skewers
Of course we grabbed some rubber bands to wrap around our poking objects, but we also looked for items with big enough holes that we could add:
- beads
- wooden shapes from the tap tap set
- cut up straws
Later on we also added:
- pieces of wool
- paper shapes with holes punched in them
- sequins
And then we began to play!
Poking the skewers and swoards in deeply meant they could support many rubber bands pulling in lots of directions.
They were also long enough to thread beads and straws onto making crazy patterns and constructions.
The small push pins and tacks added beads and shapes straight to the foam and were a great fine motor work out for small hands, and a lesson in ‘sharp things’ and how to use them safely.
I think I had as much fun as Noah did. I got lost in the idea of making stars, while Noah was busy making houses and traps and machines.
And of course when the big kids got home from school they all spent time playing with the big, collaborative geoboard construction. They added their own ideas, and collecting even more items to combine with those we already had.
I imagine our giant DIY geoboard will be out on the play table for a while to come!
This activity includes small pieces and sharp objects, please supervise young children.
I’d love to hear your ideas for things we could use with our giant DIY geoboard? What else would you add?
Find more fun fine motor activities such as our Eye Dropper Activity Tray and Chalkboard and Loose Parts play here, or check out my Fine Motor Play board on pinterest
Follow Katepickle – Picklebums.com’s board Fine Motor Play on Pinterest.
I can’t take it! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely love this idea!
So ridiculously crazy cool! How is it you even had half that stuff? I mean the swords.. so cool! My son would go NUTS for those!! Just sooo cool!.
The swords are cool aren’t they!
I just happened to see them at our local $2 shop one day and bought them on a whim… they’ve been sitting in the cupboard ever since!
There is so much awesome, right here. Nice one :)
This is absolutely FABULOUS! It’s amazing to think we can spend so much money on similar things from toy or educational suppliers. This is even better! Love it.
This looks like so much fun! Especially as the rainy season is coming up for us out in the States.- what a great rainy day activity. Thanks for sharing!
My obsession with loose parts is skyrocketing! {What else could we use??} I love how this could be fun for the whole family. I could make two boards, one for my toddler and one for my preschooler and let them have at it. Win!