Scavenger Chic

Kids Playhouse, Magnetic Tile Wall

• By Joan
• January 8, 2025
• 2 Comments

Kids Playhouse, Magnetic Tile Wall

Welcome back everyone.  I hope you all survived the holidays.

When I last left you I was sharing with you a bunch of upcycled projects that I spotted in a store on my way back from Luray ,Virginia and I promised to share with you what the heck I was doing in Luray when I got back. 

Just to  remind you, over the past year I have been  helping my oldest son Keith and his wife Steph renovate and furnish an old farmhouse that they are using as an Airbnb. It is now fully operational, but I am still finding projects to keep myself busy.  One of the projects  I was working on last year was this shed  that is situated just across the yard from the kitchen.  

The birdhouses are from 2023.

In the front room we created a fantastic  playroom (with all upcycled materials) for all the little kiddos to enjoy.  I even asked for your ideas of what fun activities I could add to the space.  I have added a few more things to the room which I’ll share with you next week when I show the finished, (or almost finished playhouse, is it ever really finished?) project.

Anyway, if you go up the stairs on the side of the shed there is another room.  It’s probably two thirds the size of this room but it has potential as an add on playhouse.

This is the second space I’m dealing with.

Along the right side of the room will be placed the magnetic marble run from last year.

While the grandkids have been playing with the marble maze in my garage since May of last year, it was finally time to make its move to a permanent home in the playhouse.

I couldn’t have an entire room dedicated to just a marble maze I needed more inspiration.

That inspiration came with a visit to the Maryland Science Center for my granddaughter’s birthday.  She and her mom spent a long time arranging and rearranging these wooden tiles  with a magnetic backing on a steel wall.

Another magnetic wall would pair so well with the marble maze.

I just needed a nice piece of 1/4″ plywood.

Down to the table saw where I cut several 4″ strips of wood.

Then ran the strips thru again to create 4″ squares.  My first shape is complete.

A 45 degree setting on the miter saw gave me my next shape.

Cut the squares in half to get triangles and hexagons were cut with a jigsaw.

Sand the edges of all the pieces then paint or stain the color or colors of your choice.

I cut magnetic sheets to fit and hot glued the magnets to the back of each shape.

If you don’t want to play with shapes all the time, I found these fun wooden cutouts at Hobby Lobby.

I once again cutout magnets to fit on  the backs of each piece and hot glued them together.

For my steel wall, I’m once again using an old hollow core door and pieces of steel from Lowes.  You can get all the details on how the backing was created from my marble maze post.

Here is the steel installed at the back of the new room of the playhouse.

Now the kids can create a farm yard with the wood cutouts.  

The lettering was from a bag of magnetic alphabet pieces from the thrift store.

Or put the farm critters away and break out the wood shapes.

Make sure you provide some kind of storage for all the magnetic tiles.

Next week…the rest of the playhouse.

Until then, stay inspired and Happy New Year.

Related posts:

Recycling an old Rake and Shutter Fall Market Days and Blue Pumpkins DIY Round Driftwood Mirror Simple DIY Birdhouses