Supplies
Tools
- Jigsaw
- Pencil
- Paintbrushes
- Ruler
- Colored pencils
- Felt-tip pens
- Pair of scissors
- Hammer
Materials
- Plywood
- 1cm thick for the base
- 5mm thick for the butterfly
- 2.5mm thick for the decorative and height gauge sections
- Wood glue
- Gesso
- Spackle
- Scotchtape
- Sandpaper
- Tracing paper or greaseproof paper
- Paper
- Paint
- Attachment piece
- Clothespegs
- Felt bees
- Headless nails
- Acrylic varnish
Directions
- Stick together 3 pieces of plywood, which are 2.5 mm thick, using Scotchtape. (In our measuring gauge the dimensions are 30cm x 18cm (12 inches x 7 inches)).
- Draw out the measuring gauge on the pieces of wood.
- Cut out the measuring gauge with a jigsaw.
- Saw a piece of plywood 10cm x 50cm (4 inches x 20 inches) from one of your pieces of plywood that is 1cm thick.
- Glue this piece of wood onto the back of the measuring guage to give it a bit more stability.
NB: At this point the 3 pieces of plywood are all still stuck together with Scotchtape.
- Nail in some small headless nails to better fix the 1cm thick piece of wood into the 5mm one more firmly.
Make the decorative pieces for the wooden height gauge
- Draw a butterfly on some A4 paper and cut it out using the scissors.
- Trace its outline onto some 5mm thick plywood and cut that out with the jigsaw.
- Draw some more decorative pieces (for our height gauge some flowers, a ladybug, a small worm and a small snail) and trace them with tracing paper and draw them out again on the plywood which is 2.5mm thick.
- Cut them out with the jigsaw.
- Sand all the decorative pieces.
Finishing touches to the wooden height gauge
- Give it a coat of spackle to hide the hammer blows and any other little marks on the wood.
- Leave it to dry and then sand.
- Give it a coat of gesso, then leave it to dry and sand.
- Paint the height gauge (in this case pink), then write on all the measurement marks in centimeters (or inches) using a ruler.
NB:The measuring gauge will be positioned 70cm (24.5 inches) from the ground and will go as high as 145cm (49 inches).
- Fix on the attachment piece.
- Varnish all the decorative pieces and attach them to the height gauge using wood glue.
NB: You can add several drops of neoprene glue to the mixture.
- Paint the pegs white and attach the bees to it, using them as height markers for the children.
- If you are making it for someone in particular, you can make a small plaque with their name on it using some 2.5mm thick plywood, the jigsaw and sandpaper.
