DIY Magnet Activity Table for Valentine’s Day Learning

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One fun hands on activity to learn in many ways! I love this magnet activity table! Welcome Dhiyana of Sparkling Buds!

Hello, hands on: as we grow readers!

I’m happy to guest post on one of my favorite blogs. Thanks Jamie for the opportunity!

I have noticed all kids love to play with magnets. I feel that they are surprised to watch things snap together without glue. Like all other kids, my two daughters want to play with magnets.

So, I made a magnet activity table along with sticky hearts to play many fun games.

We needed a magnet table to play these games. Don’t be worried about not having a magnet table. You can make one very easily like I did.

I made our magnet table from the diaper box. Yes! I removed the tabs of the diaper box with a sharp knife. Covered the box with white copier paper.

The magnet activity table is done!

I cut out a few hearts from red, purple and white construction paper.

Attached paper clips to them with a piece of tape.

The “sticky” hearts are ready.

For all the activities we played, my kids were sitting facing the opening of the diaper box .

The hearts were kept on the top of the box. The kids were moving the hearts through the opening of the diaper box with the magnet (affiliate link).

How to play with the magnet activity table:

1. Color sorting

My toddler shows a lot of interest towards sorting and matching. So we started with color sorting.

I kept the hearts as a bunch and asked her to sort them by color. She moved the hearts from under the box, initially she had to make a lot of guesses to understand where to place the magnet to move the heart she wanted to move.

Once she got hang of it, the games became more joyful for her.

We played with color sorting 15+ times. This simple game also improves the spatial orientation skill for kids!

2. Number recognition and counting

I cut a paper into four pieces and  wrote numbers from 1 to 4.

I placed the number cards and hearts on the magnet activity table (diaper box).

Then encouraged my daughter to tell the number and drag the corresponding number of hearts and place them under the number card. She is working on the number recognition and counting skills.

3. Science

I asked her to move the heart with the magnet without the paper clip.

She was surprised to see that the heart could not be moved without paper clips.

I asked her to drag the paper clip alone with the magnet. We talked about that the paper clip is required to move the hearts.

It was so cute when she told me that the heart without paper clips can’t be moved with magnets.

4. Drive under the bridge

I took strips of thick cards (advertisement cards got through mail) and folded them to make a ‘V’ shape out of it. Put the inverted ‘V’s on the box to make bridges.

I asked her to drive the heart under the bridges.

It was difficult for her. So I asked her to drive only the paper clips.

I did not keep the bridges in a straight lines. So as soon as she is out of a bridge, she has to guess how to get into the next bridge and move her magnet accordingly.

4. Drive through the tunnel

I placed all the bridges very close to each other in a straight line. It was like a big tunnel.

She had to move her magnet in a straight line to get out of the tunnel.

It was pretty challenging for her.

Seeing my toddler having so much fun with the magnet box, my eight year old wanted to join the fun.

These are the games I played with her.

5. Soccer

I drew a circle near one of the corners. We both had our own magnet and own heart.

We needed to place our own heart inside the circle while preventing the opponent from doing the same.

It was so much fun when our hearts (not only paper!) got stuck to each other.

6. Heart race

We marked start and end position. We started at the same time and raced our hearts to the end.

Most of the time my daughter was winning. I convinced myself that she was having a strong magnet!

7. Heart Arrangement

My daughter arranged the hearts in various shapes. It is not simple as it sounds.

She should not bring the hearts too close as they would get attracted.

She should bring them close so that she can form the shape. It was challenging but kept her interested.

8. Sweep the heart

For this game alone, we directly placed the magnet over the hearts.

We timed each other for collecting all the hearts. Whoever finishes in the shortest time is the winner!

I won few times in this game. Yay!

As I said, except for the last game, we were moving the hearts from inside of the box.

It was the challenge the kids liked the most. I understood that magnets not only attracts metals and minerals but also kids. It was so much fun for them! It has been 10 days we started playing these games and still it is played daily.

Have fun sticking hearts together!

Visit me at sparklingbuds.blogspot.com for more toddler play, art and craft ideas!

I am Dhiyana. I am a software engineer working full time. I have two kids aged 3 and 8. I like spending quality time with them whenever possible. I blog about toddler, preschooler, elementary school kids play, art and craft ideas at sparklingbuds.blogspot.com. Find me on Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest.