On The Go Geoboard

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If you follow me on Facebook you might have read that this past Sunday night my dad had a heart attack. He is recovering but we are still very worried about him. We have all wanted to be by his side and that has meant a lot of time spent in the hospital. I had made this geoboard for R for the purpose of being able to bring it to doctor's offices, restaraunts, etc. This week, with my dad being in the hospital and R's eye specialist appointment, poor R has spent a lot of time in places he is suppose to sit still and behave and be quiet. This geoboard is perfect for those situations!

Making a geoboard is really easy and it brings hours of fun. We made ours out of a piece of 2x6 decking board. My husband cut it to the size I wanted and I sanded all of the edges. Then I primed and painted our board black. I thought the black would make the colors of the rubber bands stand out. I also added a layer of Mod Podge because practically everything is better with it. Next, we made a grid on a piece of paper for the nail holes. We spaced each nail one inch apart and taped the paper to the board. My husband sweetly offered to hammer in the nails for me while I worked on something else. And that was it! 

I made a felt pouch for our board as an added bonus. I let R pick out a color of felt that he liked and I sewed it by hand (as you can tell by the wonky stitches). It was simple to sew, but you could also use glue if you'd rather. Then I added a velcro closure and attached it to the geoboard with velcro. This way he can store all of the rubber bands in the pouch, which stays attached to the board when it is not in use. When he wants to play with it, he can easily remove the pouch from the back. It's easy and quick to pack up because any rubber bands he has put on the board will stay. If we are called back into our room at the doctor's office we can just put the pouch back on the board and toss it in my purse. Everything stays together!

There are so many different ways to play with a geoboard. You can make shapes, letters, patterns, and abstract designs. We also counted the nails, columns and rows. Our geoboard has five rows with seven columns for a total of 35 nails. It's also great for strengthening those hand muscles! R likes making pictures on occasion but I think his favorite part is just stretching the rubber bands. The pictures are usually an afterthought for now.

                                          

I think that this would be a great homemade Christmas present as well. It's not just for travel! It's also a great activity just for fun, or for a busy activity at the kitchen table as you cook dinner. My son loves his and I wish that I would have made him one sooner. 

Do you think a geoboard is something that would interest your child?

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