The Ultimate Toddler Busy Board

I originally saw the idea of a busy board for babies and toddlers somewhere on the internet.  I floated the idea by my dad by sending him pictures of a few examples I found online.  My dad, being the detailed craftsman that he is, went above and beyond the examples I sent.  He built the ultimate busy board!  Not only does this busy board feature several latches, a door knob, a faucet handle, an old phone, hooks, and door stoppers, it has working doors, secret compartments, a peep hole, and lights powered by a rechargeable battery.

At the top of the busy board are two red doors with three different kinds of latches mounted on top, one which must be turned correctly in order to open the doors. Inside the doors are a small shelf and a mirror.  Katy enjoys looking at herself in the mirror! 

Katy can also turn on a light in the compartment behind the red doors by using one of the light switches located just below the red doors (more on the other light switch later).

Also below the red doors is a working mail slot.  Items dropped in the mail slot fall to a compartment at the bottom of the busy board, which Katy can access by opening a yellow door with an abacus mounted on it.  Of course, Katy has to properly unlock the latch at the top of the yellow door first. 

Just above the red doors at the top of the busy board is a red light, which is linked to door bell mounted next to a door knocker and peep hole (more on the peep hole later).

Katy's favorite part of the busy board so far are the wooden sorting rings and all the things she can do with them.  In the picture below, Katy has all the colored rings on the bar of a circular towel holder.

The wooden rings can also be sorted on the labeled wooden board just below the circular towel holder, and the wooden board easily slides out of the green pieces of wood holding it on the busy board should Katy want to sort the colored rings on a horizontal surface.   

Katy can also slide the wooden sorting rings through a narrow opening into the same interior compartment connected to the mail slot.  The narrow opening is just above the yellow door on the far left side (see picture above).  The other openings running across the top of the yellow door are a square and a circle that fit wooden lacing beads.  

The second light switch just below the red doors at the top turns on a light behind the peep hole. When you look through the peep hole, you can see different pictures by spinning a wheel mounted inside the busy board.  Katy has yet to master closing one eye to look though small openings, so the peep hole remains a mystery to her. 

Katy's busy board is more than just a busy board.  There is a backside! 

On the back side of the busy board is an easel covered with paint chalk. 

The red bin at the bottom hinges up so that paper rolled from above can be tucked down nice and tight. 

The paint chalk is also magnetic, and the deep red bin at the bottom is plenty big to hold all of Katy's magnets.  

Not only is the busy board fun and functional, it is also gorgeous.  Just look at all those finished woods and beautifully painted surfaces.  Something this nice deserves to be passed down to cousins in the years to come.  Are you reading this Casey and Dennis?