Make a sensory table
Take an old children’s table and turn it into a fun and tactile sensory board!
Resene upcycling for good with Sarah Herring - Project 42
Finished project
You will need: Testpot brushes, detail brushes, sandpaper, Resene Quick Dry primer sealer undercoat, ruler and pencil, painter’s masking tape, assorted hardware and sensory objects (Dollar stores are a great start), super strong glue and a drill with small screws, Resene testpots in your choice of colours. Sarah used Resene Black White, Resene All Black, Resene Hopbush, Resene ASAP and Resene She’ll Be Right.
Top tip: Sensory boards can be made with all sorts of textures and themes for young children, and are great learning tools. We always recommend that they are only used with careful adult supervision.
Finished project
Before
Step one Always check your item for repairs and give it a clean before starting. Lightly hand-sand the coloured laminate on the table top and apply a coat of Resene Quick Dry primer sealer undercoat. If the surface is very smooth, use Resene Waterborne Smooth Surface Sealer instead of the primer. Sarah left the plastic legs of this table black because they were in reasonably good condition, but you might like to paint your table base too.
Step two Apply two coats of Resene Black White all over the table top, waiting for each coat to dry completely in between. Once this colour was completely dried, measure and mask out a simple striped pattern.
Step three Apply two coats of Resene All Black to every other striped area, waiting for each coat to dry completely. Once dry, remove the masking tape carefully and touch up with a detail brush is needed if a little bit of colour has run.
Step fourSarah wanted to make a sensory board with lots of fun ‘working’ objects for young children to enjoy playing with.
Use a mix of push-button lights, sliding locks with chains, stretchy plastic bands, stick on mirror shapes, a solar calculator, a spinning castor etc. It’s very important to ensure that all the items you select can be securely fastened to the table and are SAFE for a child to play with. Map out with a pencil where each item will go.
Step fiveTo make the table fun and colourful, paint a splat shape under where some of the objects will be fixed. Sarah used detail brushes to apply Resene Hopbush, Resene ASAP and Resene She’ll Be Right. It took at least two coats of each colour to hide the black and white underneath.
Step sixOnce all the splat shapes are dry, affix all the play objects with a drill and screws, or with extra strong glue. All that’s left to add to the finished table is a toddler!