Magnetic Building Shapes - Housewife Eclectic

Today I am continuing my electronic free road trip ideas with these fun Magnetic Building Shapes!

Building blocks occupy my kids for hour. Between the forts and castles, I can hand them a bucket of blocks and they will have a great afternoon. I began to wish I could bring a box of blocks on our road trip with us because it occupied them for so long. I came up with the next best things, these magnetic building shapes that let your kids build and play, all on a flat surface.

You will need:

The printable found here
A laminator and laminating Sheets, I use this one and love it!
a binder pouch to keep the shapes in
scissors
magnet tape for the back of the play mat
cookie sheet to play on (I bought mine at the dollar store)

These building shapes take a little more time than my other playmats, but they were well worth the effort, my girls loved them and played with the for hours. Print the printable on a sturdy card stock, and then cut out each individual shape. Laminate the shapes for durability and then cut out again. Add a strip of magnetic tape to the back of each shape. I use magnetic tape because it lays so flat against the play mat.

You can use an old cookie sheet, but I found that the cookie sheets at the dollar store are actually the perfect size to fit on a little kid’s lap. I bought a dollar cookie sheet and then spray painted it turquoise, while the paint was still wet, I threw pink glitter on the cookie sheet. I actually painted this cookie sheet more than 4 years ago and it has held up really well!

My daughter built castles, houses and even roads to run her cars along. This was probably one of her favorite road trip activities. My daughter seriously only watch one movie on our entire way to Disneyland because she had so many other creative options.

You can find my Road Trip Sanity Savers here, My Ocean Play Mat here, My Farm Play Mat here and my Car Play Mat here.

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Comments

Rachel // Maybe Matilda says
June 10, 2015 at 2:52 pm
Such a clever idea! If and when we ever make it to Disneyworld, I'll definitely bring this along 🙂
bxcrochet says
June 10, 2015 at 4:13 pm
What a great idea! I love that used a cookie sheet.
Michelle F.
Crystal says
June 10, 2015 at 5:07 pm
What a great way to inspire creativity. I love the idea of getting rid of electronics. I don't think my kids would mind horribly as long as there were alternative entertainment options like this.
I am Harriet says
June 10, 2015 at 5:18 pm
My kids has something like this when they were younger. They really enjoyed them.
Masshole Mommy says
June 10, 2015 at 5:25 pm
Fun idea! My kids would love that.
Jeannette says
June 10, 2015 at 5:38 pm
This is a simple and fun way to learn and have fun! Easy to make too! I love how creative you are!
Diana Villa says
June 10, 2015 at 5:43 pm
I love them so cute. I'm sure my daughter would love to make those with me. Thanks 😀
Lexi D says
June 10, 2015 at 7:05 pm
What a fun idea! I'm sure my niece and nephews would love this!
MikiHope says
June 10, 2015 at 11:33 pm
This definitely is a great way to keep kids occupied during long car rides. It sure beats them watching movie after movie after movie!!
Coach Donna Ward says
June 11, 2015 at 3:11 am
This is a fabulous idea – I didn't know there was magnetic tape – and I'm wondering how I could use it — hmmm
kristi dominguez says
June 11, 2015 at 2:57 pm
This is so fun! Such a great idea!
Taylor Speikers says
June 11, 2015 at 4:11 pm
My daughter would absolutely love this in the car because she gets restless!
Chari says
June 12, 2015 at 12:54 am
Super cute! I think my little girl would enjoy playing with this!
Liz Mays says
June 12, 2015 at 12:32 pm
What a great boredom buster that is, and it's so cute too!
Hodge Podge Moments says
June 12, 2015 at 4:55 pm
I love the look of that cookie sheet. The specks in the blue are so fun. I used to use cookie sheets with magnetic letters in the classroom for word work activities and the kids loved it!
Erica Acevedo says
June 17, 2015 at 11:32 pm
What a fun printable! These remind me of tangrams that we used to build shapes with in elementary school – only these are much more convenient! Magnetic so they don't get lost! I know what I'm making all my friends' kids for Christmas!
Karissa Ancell says
June 18, 2015 at 1:14 am
This is such a great idea. My daughter would have liked it wen she was younger.

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