I've been super intrigued by the light boxes on Play at Home Mom, and excited by all the possibilities for open-ended play they seem to offer. Since these puppies cost $150 and up, I've had my eyes peeled for smooth-bottomed containers I could light up for a frugal ($15) version of the real thing. 
The lights I used are 24 LED camping lights from Ozark Trail, which I found in the hardware section of our local store. They're nice because they run on batteries, no cords or electricity to worry about - and they're simple for the boys to turn off and on by themselves. I'm sure they could be diffused somehow later on to overcome that bright halo effect, but it's not bothering anyone here!We did purchase a few manipulatives on sale from Discount School Supply - the window blocks and the animal X-rays are pretty great! We considered the laminated flowers and leaves, but I think we can make our own from some of the leaves and things we always seem to collect (in bulk!) on nature walks.
The big kid in our house is really into tracing right now, too, so he's digging the light source for that. All those other plastic bins sitting in my garage just holding stuff only wish they were having this much fun.
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Traci, I've been intrigued by these as well! I've thought about buying one but they are so expensive. So, I'm glad I have you as my creative friend!!!
ReplyDeleteIs the base just a clear plastic bin with a clear plastic lid??? I can't really tell. I think my boys would love this too!
Yea! I've been thinking about making one of these myself, too. Thanks for the ideas.
ReplyDeleteI made a light box a lot like this one for my 2 year old. I also made her some see through shapes with White tissue paper and colored markers. (As I type this I realize I could have just used colored tissue paper) I colored shapes on the white tissue paper, I used BRIGHT colors so I can also put a black light in my make shift light box. I laminated the colored shapes with clear contact paper and they work beautifully!
ReplyDeleteI love how much the light exploration is spreading! We made our own boxes awhile back too, and the activities keep growing! Here are ours: http://www.childcentralstation.com/2011/06/our-diy-light-tables.html I also made some of our own x-rays and shrinky dink manipulatives for the table... hopefully the posts will be coming soon! Love the blog, I'm a new follower!
ReplyDeleteI did something similar. I bought two regular clear boxes (identical) from Target and stuck them inside each other. In the bottom one I ran Christmas lights in and poked a hole out the bottom for the cord. My son loves it because it can store things like water beads without rolling out and the lid can be placed on top for drawing,painting, etc... Cost me $20.
ReplyDeleteWe used an Ikea container that was slightly frosted http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50115862/
ReplyDeleteIt worked really well to diffuse the light. We brought one this size and one slightly bigger. Then added cheap LED lighting and off we went
Thanks you guys - great ideas here! I was looking for a frosted container, too, but I think I will rock with that wax paper now!
ReplyDeleteGreat article for me I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteart on canvas