DIY Little Room and Resonance Board

I have met some amazing mums on my journey with Owen.  Many of which I met through Playgroup at Narbethong Special.  Like me, lots of these mums put their creative caps on and build their own version of more expensive therapy/learning equipment. Nicole is one such mum and she has just made this amazing “little room” and “resonance board” for her boy.  To buy the two you would be looking at around $3000.  This one cost her around $500.  She has been kind enough to allow me to share her instructions with you.

What you need:

From a hardware shop:

• PVC tubing  (how many depends on how big you make your room and how long the pieces are that you buy)
• Plywood for the Resonance board and the sides of Little Room (as per above, how many depends on room size and size of sheets) – Extra tip, if you are in Australia and shop at Bunnings they will cut these to size for you.
• Optional PVC glue (Nicole did not use).
•  2  @   3 way “t junction”  joins
• Piece of Perspex
•  Clear plastic tubing
•  Little wooden dowels
• 4 long thin pieces of wood to frame the resonance board. Extra tip, if you are in Australia and shop at Bunnings they will cut these to size for you.
• (optional) pipe padding.

Order online

• 2  @ 4 way “L tee” pvc
• 6  @ 3 way PVC  joins 

There are a number of ebay shops online that sell these specialist products.  I used a company called Klevercages

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General supplies:

• Elastic
• Zip ties
• Sensory items to hang in the room or to stick around
  the edges
• Small wood screws
• Wood glue

Tools:

• Hacksaw (for the pvc)
• Drill
• “Step” Drill bit for drilling holes the Perspex
• Screw driver
• Paper, pen to calculate the lengths you need to cut.

Instructions :

Resonance board:

• Cut the plywood to size (if necessary and you haven’t had Bunnings do it for you)
• Cut the side pieces to size (if necessary and you haven’t had Bunnings do it for you)
• Screw and wood on the underside of the board (this will help it echo and make noise when the child uses it).

       

Little Room:

• Work out the dimensions you want for your child’s little room
• Measure the inside of your T junctions, corner joins etc.  You need to take this into consideration when cutting your PVC to get your little room the right height.  This is the complex bit.  Remember the measure twice, cut once rule.
• Cut your PVC and put the frame together, see the pictures I have shared. Use glue if you want (But don’t if you want to grow it).
• Cut your plywood for the side and using zip ties attach it to the frame.  Trim them with nail clippers to avoid any sharp edges
• Cutting Perspex is tricky so get a glass cutter to cut it to size for you.
• Drill holes in the Perspex and add it with zip ties to the top of your frame.
• Drill holes to hang your sensory items from.
• Attach them with elastic threaded through the plastic tubing.

Place the little room on top of the resonance board and play.

Note getting a larger child in and out can be an issue.  Try a slide sheet or a sheep skin (noting sheepskin dulls the sound of the board).  Nicole reports the little room is actually quite heavy and awkward to move and advised she is going to put handles on the side of the little room so it can be manoeuvred.

Thanks Nicole for allowing me to share your creation!