Gender-neutral Busyboard for Tilda – Circus!

I love busyboards for their neutrality. When babies play with them, their minds are clean plate. Baby boys and baby girls alike love to pull, push, switch, touch and roll. As for the designs, busyboard should be bright and bold, and…

I saw around many boards with the crowns for little princesses. And you know what? It’s totally okay, as long as boys are getting their share of crowns, too! All kids are little royalties, in my universe. So, hail to the kids!

I made this board for little Tilda for her first birthday. As many others, at the time I was swept away by amazing “The Greatest Showman”.

The circus is for boys and girls alike. Isn’t it marvelous? When I think Cirque du Soleil, acrobatics, clowns, or bearded women – they’re for all genders, all ages, all people.

So in pursuit of new themes that would be bright, gender-neutral, and a step off the beaten path, I chose… CIRCUS!

I was working with purple – the Pantone color of 2018 – and I love how it turned out. Usually, I’m not that confident in my ability to combine the colors. But this time I paired purple with yellow and pink, and just loved it.

The pattern itself is very simple. If you want to know how to paint a busyboard, I wrote about it before.

I picked the parts for busy board that work best for a one-year-old toddler. Spring door stoppers are a huge hit and an absolute must for any age. Plastic pipe is always cheered by babies who are in their “drop-the-thing” stage. Hooks and wheels help to stimulate fine motor skills. The rollers, too.

The switches on this board are very special – next to on/off, they have writings in Japanese. How sophisticated is this, teaching your baby Japanese at 1 year old? Just kidding! But yeah, this is not something you just grab at any store.