PEGBOARD PLATFORM

I was walking through a big hardware store in January and saw some pegboard on sale.  I have never made anything with pegboard, but I was fascinated by all the uniform holes so evenly spaced.  The fascination turned into a desire to make something with the pegboard.  The result was a Pegboard Platform.

The Pegboard Platform consists of a piece of pegboard held up by four cardboard tubes that serve as legs. As you can see, the dimensions for the platform are slightly narrower than the sand table and half as long.  The tubes are cut so the pegboard rests nine inches above the lip of the table. Notchers are cut near the top of each tube so each corner of the pegboard fits inside.  The pegboard is sturdy enough that there is no need for support across its length or width.  There is also a hole cut in the bottom of each of the tubes so when children pour sand down the tubes---and they will---it has an outlet.

As you can see from the picture above, the tubes are duct taped to the sides of the table.  The pegboard corners, however, are not duct taped in place.  The notches are narrow enough so the corners fit in snugly.  To tell you the truth, I was a little surprised at how well this stayed up with a minimal amount of taping.

The Pegboard Platform transforms the sand table in at least three ways.  It provides a surface above the table on which the children can work.

It also creates a space under the platform for the children to explore.

(If you are very industrious, you can work both above the platform and below the platform at the same time.)

Finally, the tubes provide holes for the children to put things in.  The tubes make deep vertical holes that are an irresistible draw for children.

I do not use the word cool very much in this blog, but after setting up the apparatus and then pouring sand onto the pegboard, something really cool happened on three levels.  On the top level, the level of the pegboard, sand slowly sifted through the holes and left a pattern that we all thought looked like a waffle.  On the sand in the table, another pattern was formed consisting of little mounds of sands of differing heights.  Mirror patterns?

The third level of cool was the space under the pegboard.  What happened that was so cool in that space?  The pattern of the sand as it fell through the holes.

The children thought it looked like rain.  Did I say it was cool?

p.s.  Greg at Males in Early Childhood interviewed me via email and posted the interview.  We all like to tell our stories and Greg gave me a chance to tell a little bit of my story.  Thanks Greg. And while you're there, check out his other posts.  He is a dedicated early childhood teacher from Australia and cares deeply about children.