Build Your Own Light Table on a Budget

For so many months I longed for a light table for my play room, but it seemed like trying to bring home the holy grail. There are so many fabulous store-bought versions that were so completely out of my budget. So I turned to other bloggers and Pinterest for inspiration. There had to be a way to bring a light table to our playroom and keep it within my small budget! I looked at many ideas. I priced out these many ideas. Some were beyond my meagre construction skills, and some were still completely out of my daycare budget. In the end, I constructed a good-sized light table that cost very little—a culmination of all the knowledge and ideas I had gleamed from my research. I bought a big "under the bed" style plastic container. I couldn't find one with a clear lid in the size that I wanted for the price I wanted, so I turned the container upside down. The bottom of the container became our workspace.

A lot of DIY light tables used a string of white mini-lights inside the plastic container. This is a great idea if you have a drill to make a hole in your box and access to an electrical outlet so you can plug your lights in. I wanted mine to be cord-free so toddlers and babies weren't getting tangled up in the cord. I headed to the hardware store to look for battery-operated light options. I found quite a few choices, surprisingly! These round LED lights are battery-powered, very lightweight, and extremely bright. And best of all, they were under $5. You simply push the top and the lights turn on or off. I used 3 of these lights inside our light table.

To diffuse the LED lights a little more than my container did, I covered the inside edges with white plastic shopping bags. I simply cut the bags to the size of the sides of the container and taped them on with tape. This allows most of the light to be directed up to the table top, and not escape out the sides of your light box. You could also use tracing or tissue paper. I used plastic bags to keep my building costs at a minimum. I placed the bottom of the container on top of the lid, turned the lights out, and our light box was ready to go!

Finding materials for the light box was the most fun of all! We took a trip to the dollar store and scavenged all sorts of treasures that were colourful and would let the light travel through them. We found bracelets, containers, plastic cups, toy links, and jumpy frogs.

But our most popular and most favoured objects on our light box are the plastic reusable ice cubes! They were $1/bag and they take building blocks to a whole new level. Even the grade school kids couldn't resist!

The plastic cups were another great choice for the light box, the toddlers and preschoolers found they could match the coloured cubes to the corresponding cups.

Even some of our existing play materials became so much more fun by putting them on the light box.

If you have been hesitating for any reason about adding a light box/table to your play curriculum, I urge you to stop! The cost can be as little as $10 if you only want to build a little one. Our light box cost me only $25 for the actual construction materials.

Go ahead and build one! Your children will absolutely LOVE it, and the play possibilities are endless.

*Helpful Hint: We store all of our light box play materials INSIDE the light box when we are not using it. A play item that doubles as a storage unit is a win in my books!