DIY light box Archives | happy hooligans

Exploring colour and light on our homemade light box, using ordinary household objects:

We’re loving our new DIY light box, and this week we’re combining colour and light to make things interesting.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a very inexpensive and easy light box for the Hooligans. And I promise you, you can make one too. You only need two things, and there are no tools involved. You can see the simple how-to here.

Then I set out to look for colourful, clear objects to use with the light table, and I came across these cd cases in a one of our cupboards.

Yesterday, we put them to the test!

The Hooligans have been having a blast playing with colour and light this week. I have the feeling we’re going to be spending LOTS of time playing in the dark in the days and weeks to come!

More simple, household objects that work well on the light box:

glow sticks

unfrozen/thawed freeze-pops

clear coloured rulers

colourful, transparent shot glasses (dollar store)

our translucent drinking glasses from ikea

clear bottles filled with water and food colouring

waterbeads

colourful magnetic letters

shapes cut out of colourful plastic binder inserts

Basically, if it’s translucent and colourful, it will work! Hopefully that list will inspire some colour and light play for your light table or light box.

Make your own light box using 2 simple items!Yeah, Baby!

I’ve been positively drooling over the light tables and light boxes that I’ve seen popping up all over blog-world! You know the ones I’m talking about:

I knew if I thought hard enough, I could come up with a simple way to make a DIY light box with stuff I had around the house.

Now, mine isn’t as large as some that I’ve seen, but when I put it together, and tested it, I was over the moon! It totally works. Yes indeedy!! Woohoo!

And bonus: because it’s small and light-weight, it’s portable. I’ve decided to call mine a “DIY light box” rather than light table, obviously, because of its size.

Here’s how it’s done. Prepare to be amazed by it’s simplicity!

You can find these LED lights at Walmart, Canadian Tire, and probably most hardware stores. You can also buy them through Amazon via the following link:

These lights run on four AA batteries, and last forever. We have a bunch of them – we use them when we’re camping.

I found a few of these opaque containers at a thrift shop a while back to use for messy play (shaving cream, finger painting etc.).

The moment of truth! Turn the light on, and pop the lid on the container, and……

VOILA!! A light box!!

It’s awesome!! Honestly, you wouldn’t believe how excited I was when I turned out the lights, and saw it glowing happily away on the kitchen counter. Don’t you love it when something comes together this easily?

I didn’t go searching for exciting things to put on it. I was in the kitchen so I just grabbed a few things that I had near-by.

One of these days I’ll ask my handy hubby to make the “real deal” for me, but for now, this will be just fine. You can see how the Hooligans play with it here.

Yay, me! And yay, you too because YOU can totally make one of these! And if you’re looking for something a little bigger, pop over to CBC Parents to see our larger but equally simple light table featured there!