#momhacks – Learning Boards for Toddlers

Since the pandemic, parents have been practically forced into virtual and homeschooling. Some parents have had to create dedicated spaces in their homes for children to have a "classroom" environment free from distractions. One of the many learning tools that have become popular to incorporate are learning boards.

A learning board is basically a large poster board with several different activities or subjects depicted. They should age and school level appropriate. If you look on Pinterest your head will probably spin with all the different methods of creating one. You can also purchase them in kits you can put together yourself or buy them custom made, which can be a little expensive.

I wanted to see if my 2-year-old would be interested in one. However, I did not want to invest a lot of time and money on a board that he would toss to the side, rip up, or quickly grow tired of. So, I made a quick and easy board using Canva graphics and some basic materials:

Tri-fold poster board

Scissors

Glue

Ruler

Pencil

Color Printer

The most time-consuming part was choosing and creating the graphics (about 1-2 hours tops). I tried to keep it basic with the alphabet, numbers from 1-10, name and age, shapes, and basic body parts. I used bright primary colors. I could have added more along with a border decoration but again decided to wait and see how he would like it. Here’s how it came out:

He loves it! I incorporate it into our learning through playtime and use it as a giant game board. We put it on the floor, and he climbs on top of it pointing to the pics and saying what they are. We like to take the pieces from his letter and number puzzles and match the corresponding letters/numbers on the board.

Since it was so easy to make, I can always use the same process to create other boards with different activities and themes. If you are not one for using Canva or other graphics software, head over to the dollar store. You can always use things like flashcards, cut out pages from coloring books, sticky letters, etc. to add to the poster board. For about $5 you can put one together in minutes!

Don’t let social media fool you into thinking these projects have to be complicated or expensive. I am not a crafty person in the least, but I can find some shortcuts to creating cute and fun learning tools for my little guy. If I can do it, you can too!