...and a new classroom furniture arrangement along with the switching of many toys. We do a 'room change' every 4-5 weeks but it's fun when it falls on the start of a semester. It makes life seem so fresh and full of anticipation for future learning:)
This round, we have the Laundry Center- it consists of a wooden cabinet with cool windowed doors (washer and dryer) and lots of knobs to turn and twist. We usually add a few baskets, 'soap' bottles, plastic irons and scarves to promote creative dramatic play interactions.
Awhile back, we also had a little freestanding stringy thing-a-ma-bob that could allow for items to be hung with clothespin (worst description ever...sorry). Over time, pieces of it broke off and then duct tape eventually had to be involved in order for it to be functional. And the kids liked to break the strings. And I had angry feelings. And then we threw it away.
As we were preparing the room this week, I had visions of a new and improved stringy thing-a-ma-bob that was not broken and could withstand the 'how-can-this-be-taken-apart' minds of my crafty Tods.
As with most of my project visions, I knew what I wanted it to look like in my brain but didn't know the best way to actually get there. I decided to just go to Home Depot and walk up and down the aisles for inspiration. My initial instinct was screaming PVC pipe, so I went to that aisle first to scope out my options.
To my delight, there were a variety of precut 2 foot pieces on a shelf that could maybe be perfect. I grabbed a bunch and laid them out on the floor with a smattering of connector pieces amongst all the Construction and Plumber guys....I wonder how crazy I looked? Didn't really care....the creative juices were starting to flow.
I made my purchase and headed out. All I needed to bring my dream to fruition was a handsaw and a drill (yep, I'm gettin' serious using tools and everything). Handsaw at school, drill from gal pal 'D'...I was in business:
First things first...2 of the pipes needed to be cut in half to eventually become the legs. I stopped at school for the measuring and sawing:
Took the pieces home and assembled the parts on the table:
I wanted 2 ropes evenly spaced apart strung from post to post, so measured down the side posts to prepare for the drilling of holes:
The first mark 6 inches from the top and then another marking at 12 inches. To make sure that the holes lined up on the other side (to feed the rope all the way thru), I used my tape measure as a guide and calculated a matching mark half way around to pole.....aaaaannnd, now I'm doing math.
Much drilling happened on both side posts, a total of 8 holes drilled. Next the rope:
I used a big needle to thread the twine through the holes:
And tied knots on both outside ends- I made sure the line was pretty tight while securing the final knots so the future clothspins wouldn't be saggy baggy holding their clothing items:
Then I (carefully) burned the ends of the rope to ensure they wouldn't fray apart at a later time and break:
And although duct tape was a no-no for keeping old, broken stringy thing-a-ma-bobs together, my new and improved stringy thing-a-ma-bob would indeed have a duct tape element. In my original vision, painting the ugly PVC pipe (to up the cuteness factor) seemed like a necessary step. But internets advice from various worker types said that PVC pipe doesn't love to be painted. I'm all about classroom safety and I don't want my toddler people accidentally consuming chipped paint pieces!! Fancy duct tape could get the job done to cover the ugliness of PVC just fine:
I chose black for the legs and shiney metallic silver for the surrounding posts- layering the pieces around each pipe until full coverage was achieved. Ta-Da!!:
I'm pleased with the outcome and it looks great in the Laundry Area with some clothespins and socks:
And I think the kids like it too:
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