DIY Magnet Boards

Magnets are something every child should get to play with, and I wanted to incorporate them into our science center, but they’re just so expensive! Then I saw this idea on Pinterest, and I knew I had to do it! So I did!

Really, though, it was my coworker Sara who forced me into it. She bought the spray paint and shared it with me; I just provided the cheap cookie sheets from the Dollar Tree. 

The paint is “Rust-oleum Painter’s Touch” and it bonds to wood, metal, and plastic. I think she said she got it at Walmart? In any case, there was more than enough paint for each of us to do 2 coats each on 2 cookie sheets each.

I’m a little ashamed to show the painting pictures – we didn’t set out any drop cloths or towels or anything – just threw the cookie sheets on the ground and started spraying! 

You can see from the picture about how far away from the sheets I held the paint… there were more specific instructions on the bottle. I’m glad it wasn’t a windy day! Nothing big or bad stuck to the paint while it was drying.

Now… on to the fun part! The kids loved sticking these magnetic letters to the boards!

My cute little words didn’t last for very long, which was fine. I am not trying to drill the little toddlers on letter recognition, although I did joyfully talk about the different letters (and colors) that they selected.

It was a sort of sensory experience too, digging through all those plastic letter magnets, listening to them click against one another, noticing the bright colors.

It even gave some fine motor practice when they grasped certain letters and carried them all around the room in a big pile or individually.

And of course, there was the science aspect. Magnets are magical. They stick to things without any tape. Sometimes they even stick to each other!

Another Pinterest craft success! (I told you those words I had spelled didn’t last for long!)