When Noah was younger, he was very eager to learn his letters and numbers. Nowadays, I have to keep things entertaining in order to keep his interest. I had the idea of presenting each individual letter to him at a time, to paint. He was excited to choose the color, and progress to the next letters in line. Once the letters dried, we decorated them with stickers and mini pompoms.
When all of the letters of the alphabet were finally complete, I wanted to display his work in a way that he could continue to review them. I spoke to my father-in-law about a magnetic board that would cover a large empty space in Noah’s room. He jumped right on this project!
It took some calling around by my father-in-law to find a metal shop that would cut the metal in the exact size that we needed. To begin the project, he nailed a long piece of wood right below where the metal would be placed. He then measured out where I wanted the board and used caulk to cover the area on the wall. Quickly, we placed the metal against the wall and pressed down every inch to ensure that it wouldn’t move. The wood that was placed below was strong enough to hold up the metal while it dried against the caulked wall. Once dry, he removed the wood and repaired the drilled holes on the wall.
The next step was the border. My father-in-law was able to find trim that would match Noah’s book shelves. He cut four pieces of trim and caulked them around the metal.
The final product looked amazing! Noah’s reaction – “WHOA!!!”
We now use this board for the letters that Noah designed, display his artwork, and write fun messages with an erasable marker.
Shop Noah’s Magnetic Board
Local metal shop in Minneapolis – metal board
Home Depot – trim
Michael’s – wooden letters & stickers and mini pompoms
Target – toxic free paint
Photo credit: Leslie Larson Photography
