Foamnasium Alternative?

[midaycare]

I currently have a sofa taking up a fair amount of space in one of my daycare rooms. I have a 3-year-old that likes to climb it and jump off, so I'm going to remove it.

I wanted to replace it with activities for 3-18 months. I love the look of foamnasium, but wow ... can't afford it.

I already have beanbags ...

Any other ideas? My specialty is the 2-5 year olds, so I need some help with this younger age group. TIA!

[SignMeUp]

I love DIY projects, using stuff I already have. One year I had a young group and I made a very low window-seat type area using a table top with the legs taken off, some foam, and some fabric. Everything was held together with velcro. I made some contrasting pillows, just for added fun. Babies and toddlers could climb up there to read or play or look out the window, and it was so low to the ground that they couldn't get hurt, even if they could manage to fall off of it. Wish I had pics but I don't, and I took it apart after that year.
I also have a bunch of foam blocks that I covered myself with tablecloth vinyl. There are tons of cute patterns and colors. The foam was originally from crib mattresses that my DC kids used to sleep on. It's amazing how long that stuff lasts :: We first recycled them into flip chairs, if you remember those from the 80s. Once that got old, I made the blocks. I must have two dozen of them, large flat rectangles that make good walls, boats or beds, and smaller thicker rectangles that are good for stacking.

[midaycare]

Cute idea!

[melilley]

I love DIY projects, using stuff I already have. One year I had a young group and I made a very low window-seat type area using a table top with the legs taken off, some foam, and some fabric. Everything was held together with velcro. I made some contrasting pillows, just for added fun. Babies and toddlers could climb up there to read or play or look out the window, and it was so low to the ground that they couldn't get hurt, even if they could manage to fall off of it. Wish I had pics but I don't, and I took it apart after that year.
I also have a bunch of foam blocks that I covered myself with tablecloth vinyl. There are tons of cute patterns and colors. The foam was originally from crib mattresses that my DC kids used to sleep on. It's amazing how long that stuff lasts :: We first recycled them into flip chairs, if you remember those from the 80s. Once that got old, I made the blocks. I must have two dozen of them, large flat rectangles that make good walls, boats or beds, and smaller thicker rectangles that are good for stacking.

Oooh, can you post a pic? I'm a visual person...

[Unregistered]

How did you get the vinyl to stay on? Glue, tape??

[midaycare]

Oooh, can you post a pic? I'm a visual person...

Me too - I admit I'm having trouble visualizing his in my hand.

[SignMeUp]

I don't have pictures of the window seat /climbing area Sorry. I only had it up for one year. I took the legs off of a table like this: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/pro...=1402673094325
and used the tabletop for the base.

I made short little legs for it out of 2x2 wood to raise it up to about maybe 8" in height, and used the screws from the original legs to put it together. (Can you say "ratchet wrench, ratchet wrench, ratchet wrench"? My kids do :: as I turn the wrench : I used foam over the top, hot-glued it to foam sides so that there were no hard edges. Then I sewed a fabric cover for it that was machine-washable. That wrapped up under the foam edges and was velcroed on.

I used a mat like this below it http://www.constructiveplaythings.co...als-crawly-mat and stuck that to the tile floor with heavy duty velcro so that it would stay in place.

It was right by a low window, so babies and toddlers would crawl up on it. Added some pillows. It was right by a toddler bookshelf. Climb, read, play ::

[SignMeUp]

The blocks: I took the foam to the fabric store, all marked for cutting. They did charge me something to do that - they have a tool that cuts it and doesn't make a huge mess.

For the small blocks (16" x 8" x 8") I hot-glued two pieces of foam on top of each other.

For the large blocks, they were cut to 12" x 4" x 24".

I sewed the vinyl into basically a slipcover/box shape, with a flap. Insert the foam, and sew the flap shut. Sewing the flap was hard though. I did some by machine, and some by hand.

[melilley]

I don't have pictures of the window seat /climbing area Sorry. I only had it up for one year. I took the legs off of a table like this: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/pro...=1402673094325
and used the tabletop for the base.

I made short little legs for it out of 2x2 wood to raise it up to about maybe 8" in height, and used the screws from the original legs to put it together. (Can you say "ratchet wrench, ratchet wrench, ratchet wrench"? My kids do :: as I turn the wrench : I used foam over the top, hot-glued it to foam sides so that there were no hard edges. Then I sewed a fabric cover for it that was machine-washable. That wrapped up under the foam edges and was velcroed on.

I used a mat like this below it http://www.constructiveplaythings.co...als-crawly-mat and stuck that to the tile floor with heavy duty velcro so that it would stay in place.

It was right by a low window, so babies and toddlers would crawl up on it. Added some pillows. It was right by a toddler bookshelf. Climb, read, play ::

Thanks for sharing!

[SignMeUp]

You are so welcome

[cheerfuldom]

How much money do you have to spend?

I dont keep many electronic toys but two that are completely worth it are the Laugh and Learn House and the Laugh and Learn crawl around car. Some other options are a small cube climber.

I used a covered crib mattress and pillows for a long time in my reading corner and the kids loved it.

[midaycare]

How much money do you have to spend?

I dont keep many electronic toys but two that are completely worth it are the Laugh and Learn House and the Laugh and Learn crawl around car. Some other options are a small cube climber.

I used a covered crib mattress and pillows for a long time in my reading corner and the kids loved it.

I'm thinking $200-$300 tops. The really cool things are just so expensive. What do they think I am, a daycare center?

Thanks for the ideas above; I'm going to go look them up!