DIY Montessori Wooden Toy Tripod

I have been reading about practicing Montessori principles from birth to foster a child's development since way before there was an actual child on the way. I've drooled over Montessori rooms like the one developed by Meg at Sew Liberated designed for her son Finn.  I knew, due to space constraints and a desire to keep Gizmo sleeping in our room for the first four months of life, that we wouldn't be setting up a room with four separate areas for sleeping, changing, feeding and being active right at birth. Still, I plan to practice many Montessori and Montessori-inspired ways of nurturing Gizmo's development.

One of the things I am most excited about is the various mobiles and toys that Montessori educators recommend to hang over a baby's face while they are lying independently on the floor. A lot of bloggers I've seen have suspended a line of rope from the ceiling or a wall bracket for this purpose. That's probably the easiest option, but it's one that assumes your "activity area" is always in the same place.  Or that you don't mind hanging a whole bunch of crap on your walls, I don't know.  I decided I needed something more flexible.

A hanging toy tripod, like the one being sold by the Michael Olaf Company, seemed ideal for the transient nature of our infant-in-an-apartment plans.  The price tag freaked me out though.  I mean, I know it's hand-crafted and all, but $95 for a tripod plus shipping was too rich for my blood.  Side note: besides being super expensive, the Michael Olaf Company has a web site that seems straight out of AOL in the mid 1990's so if you want to see additional pictures of the tripod, check out this link.

I kept googling to see if I could find a cheaper alternative out there, and lots of bloggers kept saying it was so easy to DIY.  Let me tell you - I am not a skilled DIYer at all.  My tragic flaw is that I love looking at DIY stuff but any attempt I've ever made to take on a project has ended up a ridiculous failure.  So when I tell you that this project is easy, rest assured it is a "my cat can probably do this" level of easy. And it was cheap too.  Like $10 cheap.

I started out following the tutorial over at At Home With Montessori but decided not to try to sew the mat underneath it because, woah, I do not sew.  Yet, even after watching the youtube video several times in slow motion and googling how to tie a clove hitch and following a diagram there, my pole lashing was just not working.  I think the rope was too thin.  I was on my way out the door to get new rope but I decided to improvise a bit and found a rubber hair tie worked even better.  Now, my tripod is complete and easy to collapse and store.

Here is my simplified step-by-step tutorial:

1.  Go to Home Depot.  I remember the first time I stepped into Home Depot and was frankly really surprised it didn't look like a mall full of crafting supplies.  I wanted to buy plywood and batting materials to make a DIY headboard like I had seen a thousand times on TLC.  I was so overwhelmed and lost I left without buying anything and I still don't have a headboard.  But I digress.

2. Look up.  The sign will say "Building Materials."  Walk to the back past all the really big wooden stuff you don't need.  Next to the crown molding materials you will see a whole bunch of wooden rods piled in boxes.  These are called dowels.  You need three of them.  They should be 3/4" in diameter and 48" long.  For reference, I bought these for $2.97 each. 

3. Look up.  Walk to "Tools and Hardware" and then find where they are selling "Cabinet and Furniture Hardware." Try not to get distracted by fancy dresser pull knobs you don't need.  Find these rubber "leg tips" I bought for $1.99.  Buy one set of 3/4" leg tips. I bought two sets in case I want to put some on the top of the poles too but I can't decide if I'm going to or not.

4. Go home.  Attach rubber tips to the end of the dowels.  Group the tops of the dowels together and fasten them with a rubber band.  Voila!

When I first announced my plans to make this tripod, my husband expressed how much the cats would like it.  One of our cats' favorite toys is an old bangle bracelet of mine attached to a shoelace.  It did not disappoint.  I tied a metal ring to a piece of string and hung it from the tripod and the boys immediately began playing with it. I'm going to swap this out with a wooden ring, mobiles, and other toys when Gizmo is here.

I'm not sure why it looks so narrow in this picture I uploaded but the imaginary circle created by the tripod is exactly 3 feet in diameter.  I may still fasten a round mat to the bottom or simply place it over a rug.  I haven't decided yet.  It is surprisingly sturdy.  I'll be sure to upload more pictures when it's in use.