Toddler Fun Box

This is a little box I made for my grandson, who is almost 2. If he can't figure stuff out, his two older brothers will be more than happy to help.

Some of these I had lying around, others I had to buy. Everything will be screwed down, and nothing is unsafe or a choking hazard.

For the box, I used pine. First, I cut 4 identical pieces for each side. They were 6 3/4" each, perfectly square. I then used my table saw to cut rabbets on each side of 2 of the pieces. My goal is to glue the box together and clamp it real tight so I won't have to use screws.

After the rabbets, the measurements were 7 1/2" X 6 3/4"

I wanted one side to be all holes, so naturally I had to make those holes before screwing the box together. The biggest holes are 1 1/4" wide and I made those on my Delta drill press. The other holes I made with forstner bits. I will have corresponding dowels of these sizes for sticking in the holes. Toddlers love holes.

The magnet side, like the hole side, had to have some work done before gluing the box together. I went to the drill press and drilled halfway through the pine but not all the way through in 2 spots, using a drill bit the same size as my magnets. Then I put some no-foam gorilla glue in the hole, dropped in the magnets, and clamped them down to dry.

I also added some stuffed puppy fur for texture on this side. Gruesome!

The bottom is made of luan plywood I had lying around. I sanded the edges really, really well and stained it. It will be screwed in later. I'm trying to keep this toy as light as possible.

The top is fancy. It has a flip top.

First, I took the 2 side pieces with the rabbets cut in them, and I measured 1 1/2 inches from the top and found the center line, and drilled a hole the same size as my wooden rod. I did that on each piece, then set them aside.

Next, I made a pine sandwich:

I measured the dimensions of the inside of the box (5 3/4" X 5 1/4")and cut 2 pieces of thin luan plywood in those dimensions. I laid the first one down on the workbench, found the center (the rod will lie across the longer, 5 3/4" side, and laid down the wooden rod, then cut 2 pieces of scrap pine and glued them down on each side of the rod. Then I glued the other piece of luan on top and clamped it till it dried. After it dried, I put 4 little screws in on each side.

After removing the clamps, it looked awful, so I trimmed it ever so slightly on every side and made sure it would spin when the rod was threaded through the box. Now is a good time to sand it really well. Nobody likes splinters.

Add gadgets wherever possible. I used a lot of trailer tie downs, steel rings, padlock and keys, nuts and washers, and paracords, anything I thought would be fun for a toddler. I'm pretty sure this will keep my grandson busy for at least a few days.