Raise your hand if you love Ikea’s Flisat table! We have used ours for so many things over the last few years. It’s SO versatile! And I love that if you can keep sensory bins contained by putting the table top inserts on when playing is done. Brilliant!
This year, for my daughter’s 3rd grade year, we’re going to be doing more work with maps. We have some beautiful Montessori continent map puzzles, but I wanted something that could also correlate with the table itself, since I plan to set up geography-inspired sensory bins and play invitations tucked inside. This also makes it more likely my 3 year old will want to join in on the learning fun too.
The cheapest (and quickest) option was to create thick cardboard inserts that could be changed out as we review each continent. The continents could have been hand-painted as well (would be especially helpful if you’re following the Montessori continent colors) but I liked the look of the dark gray decal and that made this project super simple to execute!
Gather materials:
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13 x 19” Cake boards. These can often be found at Walmart or craft stores in the baking section. I bought 2 packs of 5 each so I could have enough to do each continent. Regular cardboard scraps would work well too, as long as they’re thick and sturdy.
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Continent wall decal: There are lots of versions of this out there. This is the one I chose because I liked that it had labels and was minimal.
Steps:
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Trim each cake board down to size. This can be a matter of preference. I chose to make mine to sit just inside the first indentation, so it can fit inside whether there’s a bin underneath it or not.
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Attach continent decals individually to each board. Or draw / paint your own.
So simple, but a fun way to get even more use out of your Flisat table!
