Trinket Busy Board
Kids always seem to want to play with the metal parts of things, like latches on doors and other things, so my husband had the idea to build something for our girls to fiddle with endlessly that didn’t have any sharp edges or small removable parts, but which wasn’t just another piece of primary colored plastic either.
This is a board with a bunch of brass hardware screwed to it. There’s a fisheye lens peephole, a hinged door, six different latches, a knob, a handle, a door stop, a threaded rod with nuts and bolts that you can turn, and a few other odds and ends. You can unlatch and remove one whole end of it. The hardware was purchased at our local hardware store and attached to a piece of scrap wood that was nicely cut and stained.
It doesn’t really do anything, but maybe it will excite the part of their brain that helps them think about mechanics and engineering. Â I think it will also help with hand/eye coordination and fine motor skill development. 🙂
This is awesome! When I was a little girl, I loved going to the hardware store with my dad, and I would have loved this when I was younger than that. Great idea!!
Good work, Greg!! I’ve always wanted one of those. For myself 😉
Would Greg consider making one for sale? (His dad used to be our pastor years ago. I watched Greg grow up)
Where did you get all the hardware? I am thinking of making one for the child I work with at school.
I believe my husband got all the hardware just at our local hardware store (like Lowe’s or Ace). Our children have sadly outgrown ours, as children tend to do all too quickly! But they enjoyed playing with all the pieces when they were younger. So good for practicing fine motor skills in a fun and useful way! 🙂