Stop And Go Light Magnetic Toy And Wall Art

Turn three pizza pans into an adorable  piece of wall art for any little boy’s room or playroom.  It is as fun and educational as it is cute.  With a few inexpensive things you can create a totally unique toy that doubles as wall art!

I have been making magnet boards similar to this for my kids and friend’s kids for about a year.  They are fun and educational.  I was using just a rectangular pan and adding magnetic letters, numbers, and objects.  They spent a lot of time learning to spell words and recognize letters using them.

When I spotted these pizza pans at Walmart for $.97 a light bulb went off in my head.  My son has a transportation themed bedroom and these were reminiscent of stop and go lights!  For less than $10.00 I could make these pizza pans into a fun magnet board that looked just like a stop and go light!

You will need:

• 3 pizza Pans
• Red, Yellow, and Green Spray Paint
• Black glossy wall paint & Paint Brush
• Painters Tape
• Magnetic Tape
• Double Sided mounting tape
• Magnetic letters and Numbers (Dollar Store)
• Wooden Vehicles (Hobby Lobby)

The first step is to use a level to draw a rectangle on the wall.  Make sure it is long and wide enough to fit all three of your pizza pans.  Choose to put this in a spot that your child can reach all the way to the top of the rectangle.  I put the bottom about two inches above the floor board. Tape off using painters tape and paint the rectangle black.  You need a very small amount of black paint – so go grab a sample size if you don’t have any black paint at home.  I choose glossy paint instead of matte and U think it looks great.  I used a little roller brush and it worked perfectly – quick and easy.  When your paint is dry pull off the painters tape and you have the base of your stop and go light.

While that is drying you can get started on the pizza pan lights.  Take your pans outside and spray each of them.  One green, one red, and one yellow.

I sprayed one layer of paint on each and after they dried one more time just to cover them nicely.  Two coats total.  I used a quality Krylon spray paint that covered really well.  I was lucky enough to have all three colors on hand – so I didn’t need to go out and buy it.  You will use a rather small amount of paint from each can – so there will be plenty left for another project.

While your lights are drying you can start making your transportation magnets.  These are very quick and simple to make.  I found the cute wooden vehicles at Hobby Lobby for about $.68 each.  I also picked up a roll of magnetic tape at the same time.  You can use any kind of magnets for this but I love the magnetic tape.

All you do is cut the tape to fit and peel off the backing.  Stick it onto your cute wooden cars, and they are now magnets.  The adhesive is strong, and holds up to my 2 and 4 year old really well.  Make sure if your kids are small that that aren’t putting these in their mouths.  I also got magnetic numbers and letters from the dollar store.

Now you are ready to put it all together.  Because the pans are so light I hung them on the wall using double sided mounting tape.  That way I didn’t need to put holes in the pans.  I wouldn’t want them to get in the way of those little vehicles driving around.  Make sure they are in the proper order – red on top, yellow in the middle, and green at the bottom.  Next give your little ones the magnetic pieces and let them play!

My son absolutely loves his new magnet board.  I am secretly working on letter, color, and number recognition, but he is just having fun.  We work on spelling all sorts of things.  I will put the bus on a light and ask him to find the letters and spell it.  We also play games with color.  I ask him to put all the letters and vehicles that a red into the red circle, yellow into the yellow circle, and green into the green circle.  It makes mom and the little guy happy!

Add a different color spray paint and incorporate these into any room.  I’m thinking these would be pretty cute in a little girl’s room as polka dots too.   The possibilities are endless with this!   Use any shape pan you like to make a simple and fun piece of home decor that your kids will love.