Light table diy how to#

DIY Glue Shapes, Letters, & Numbers for Light Table Play from Teach PreschoolĬhristmas, Valentine's, Thanksgiving, Canada Day, fall.DIY Nature Slides for Light Table Play from Where Imagination Grows.DIY Colorful Discs for Light Table Play from Teach Preschool.Homemade Shapes and Letter Manipulatives for Light Play.There are lots of great DIY light table projects out there and I have been known to make quite a few myself.

Light table diy how to#

How to Make a DIY Light Table or Box for Kids

Still Playing School's Why Light Table Play? post is a fantastic read if you are unfamiliar with the benefits of playing with light.

Check out our light table accessory guide to browse the best light tables, light panels, and accessories.

This lower brace will be used to hold the base and lights of the table up.Curious about the benefits of light play? Or unsure of where to begin? Here's some useful information about light table play. The lower brace is just slightly off the ground. One brace is level with the top of all the sides. They worked perfectly! As you'll notice in the picture below, we did not use a solid piece for the back of the table. We used MDF pieces that were once the sides of the entertainment center. This brace will just add extra support to the acrylic in the event a child climbs on top because you know that's bound to happen! Both of my boys have been found sitting on the light table, so I'm so glad we added this support brace in.ģ. We used a piece of MDF from the entertainment center. Make sure it is level with what would be the top of the frame so that the acrylic will be level when it is set on top. Using another piece of 2x4 or a thin piece of MDF, add a brace in the middle of the frame. So our acrylic was 28' x 30', which means the outside dimensions of the frame were also 28' x 30'.Ģ. The outside of the frame should be the exact same width and length as your piece of acrylic. Make a frame for the acrylic to sit on using 2x4s. You are now done! Hahaha.that is really all we did, but here's the more detailed step by step.ġ.

Various power tools - We used a compound miter saw, a jigsaw, and a drill.įor those of you who like simple instruction: build a box.

Screws - Again, I'm not a carpenter so I don't know which kind we used.

2x4s (enough to build a frame for the sheet of acyrlic you use).

Wood, MDF or plywood - I'm not a carpenter, but the final dimensions of our wood pieces are below in the tutorial.

The lights were definitely the most expensive part of this project!

4 fluorescent lights - I paid $17.98 each from Home Depot.Wall mounted power bar or surge protector to plug all the light fixtures into.After some research, 12-14 inches deep is. We chose white, but you can use any color you'd like. 1.I sized the box so that my piece of glass would fit flush with the sides and leave enough room for the fixtures. Interior paint - We had to buy paint to paint the trim in our house anyway so we maybe spent a total of $5 on paint for this project.Parchment paper - It's used to diffuse the light.

You can see a similar product here, although this one is larger and thicker than what we used. We chose our sheet of acrylic first and built our table around it so that we would avoid having to order a custom size or cut the acrylic to size by ourselves. 1 piece of clear high impact acrylic (ours was 28' x 30' x.