Block Box

A couple of months ago, after watching Aaron play with his shape sorter, put junk mail cards into a shoe box with a slot cut in the top, and open and close doors on his locks and latches box, I had an idea for a toy for him. It was inspired especially by the fact that his shoe box was falling apart. At first I was just thinking of some kind of wood box with a slot in the top for him to put junk mail in, but watching him with the other toys made me think of something more multifunctional.

Then I remembered that my dad had a jigsaw in his garage and knew how to work with wood. So I told my dad my idea thinking this would be a fun project to do together. I gave him a very, very rough sketch and said I was thinking something the size of a bread box, whatever that is. I wanted one side of the roof to open and I wanted a door on the end so it could become a barn or a garage when he is older. And on the roof, I wanted an elongated opening on one side for mail and holes of various shapes on the other side that would fit the set of Brio blocks he already has.

My dad, being an engineer, sketched up something in Visio for me.

The original drawings didn't have the hinges, the block openings and a few other details, but the first draft my dad sent looked very similar to these drawings that he updated for me after we made some changes to the final design. This is far from the simple sketch I would have been able to make, and I hadn't considered things like the angle cuts required where the roof pieces fit together, how the handle would actually attach, or the need for reinforcement behind the hinges. It's good to have a dad who is an engineer.

Once we had the first design, I headed over to my folks' house with Aaron who played with Mom while Dad and I worked on cutting out the wood. I had never used the jigsaw before, so Dad showed me how to do it.

Dad did most of the cutting, including the inclined cuts needed for the roof.

After cutting out the plus sign opening (which fits the rectangular blocks in two directions) on the roof panel, Dad let me try doing the square opening. Unfortunately, I didn't have the hang of doing turns, so if you look closely at the finished pieces below, you might notice it is not quite square, but Dad did a great job of fixing it for me.

Before we were done, Aaron was getting pretty fussy and wouldn't nap in his stroller, so he and I had to head home. Dad managed to cut out most of the pieces before I left and I took them home in hopes of sanding them down prior to assembly. It was the weekend before Mother's Day, though, and I didn't get a chance to sand them down before Mother's Day, and my Dad, being retired and having more time on his hands than I did, took the pieces back from me so he could finish the project. I would have been happy to wait until I had time to sand them, but Dad explained that he hated to have an unfinished project and didn't mind doing it.

So he continued to work on the pieces and assemble them, sending me pictures of his progress.

When it was done, he asked me whether I wanted it painted or finished. I told him I wanted to research non-toxic options for Aaron's sake, and before I had a chance, Dad found a safe gloss urethane finish which sounded good to me.

Within a few days of completion, my parents came up for lunch and brought Aaron his block box. We called it a block box since he can put his blocks through the cutouts on the sides.

Aaron took to it right away.
At first he put the cylindrical blocks in the round opening, but later he discovered that all the pieces fit in the square opening, so mostly he just uses that one.
Dad finally turned the box around for Aaron to check out the other side.

Aaron really likes his box. He has trouble getting the pieces of mail in the slot, but he just opens the roof and puts them in that way, or shoves the mail through the front door. And then pulls them out again. And of course he enjoys putting all the blocks through the square opening. I'm sure over the next few years he will finds all sorts of things to do with his block box. And I hope someday he'll share the box his grandpa made with his kids. And perhaps more importantly, I hope he will share it with his younger sibling (or siblings) should we be fortunate enough to have them.

Thanks, Dad, and Happy Father's Day!