Build Your Own GeoBoard

 Remember elementary school? The peg boards (geo-boards) that you wrap rubber bands around/through, and basically have a ball for long minutes at a time?

My son is almost four. He is THRILLED to get to play with this. As was the barely 3 year old we babysat today. And when he said, "Look Mom! A triangle!" I was thrilled. Self discovery baby! We talked about rhombus, and quadrillaterals. Pretty rocking learning stuff here. I swear, I should homeschool. Or open my own Santa's workshop for homemade toys. Look for more to come in the "Montessori" toy department. I'm going to save over $500 by making my own Montessori toys(tools). Can't wait!

 My board is 11 nails by 12 nails. All spaced one inch apart. Just use a piece of paper for a ruler, or a rubber quilting square you're willing to ruin in order to mass produce these, or just print off paper with square inches to pencil in dots all across the board. I hoped you could see the dots better in this picture. -sigh-

The nails part was tricky. Didn't want them to go through the board, but couldn't stick up too much. Carpet tacks seemed too shallow for my wood, so I found these babies. Perfect. Also, they have a nice head on top to keep rubberbands from flying off.

Oh, and wait around by the Saw Machine at Home Depot, and ask the guy if you can grab some of his scraps. If he's like Patrick in MY Home Depot, you can have em for FREE!! BOOYEAH!! So I'm making both boards for $4.04. Yesssss!