by The Frog Prince & Family
Sometimes, having enough around that can keep your child engaged, entertained and learning – let alone for more than a few weeks, if that – can accumulate quickly into a lot of wasted space. That being the case, here’s an idea for a project for a kid’s room that is sort of decorative, but definitely practical:
If there is a space of wall in your child’s room that doesn’t have furniture in front of it or anything hanging on it, that wall can become part mural, part toy, and part learning tool.
All it takes is blocking off the area with a border of room-coordinating paint, for the look of the thing, and then filling in the center with Krylon magnetic spray paint. (Use painter’s tape to keep edges neat.)
The magnetic spray paint can act as a primer for any other Krylon paint color over it, and will allow lightweight magnets to still stick to the surface.
Whatever your kid is really into, use that as the basis for painting a simple landscape, map, or other setting, over the magnetic paint. Then use craft store thin magnet sheet blanks with one sticky side, to custom-make magnets of characters, creatures, buildings, vehicles, props, or whatever else might go with the theme.
Just print the images from the computer, stick to the magnet sheet, and cut out the shapes. Now your child has a mix-and-match storyboard to play with. Add alphabet magnets to practice spelling out the names for things, and eventually descriptions of what is happening in the story.