Kids DIY | Olympic Medal Podiums

by Jennifer Cooper, posted on August 9th, 2012 in Kids DIY

The Olympics are winding down this weekend. I’ll admit, I’m a little sad. Our family has really been enjoying them! My daughter thinks Gabby Douglas is amazing. My son has developed a love for water polo (who knew?!). And Dave and I have spent many evenings cheering on our women’s beach volleyball teams. Apologies to our neighbors for the noise.

So I thought it’d be fitting to come up with a toy the kids could make that paid tribute to our shared Olympic fever—medal podiums for their lego figures. Here’s how.

What you’ll need:

– 1 wooden napkin ring, 3 wooden thread spools, and a pack of wooden disks. You’ll find all of these in the wood crafting section of your craft store.
– glue gun
– spray paint in gold, silver and copper/bronze
– old shoe box or other box you can use for the spray painting bit

Note: It was the kids’ (ages 7 and 9) first time using a glue gun and spray paint. If you have young kids, you’ll want to handle those steps yourself. In fact, definitely handle those steps yourself.

Step 1

For the gold medal stand, glue two wooden thread spools together; then glue a disk on top. For the silver, glue a disk to the top of one wooden thread spool. For bronze, glue a disk to the top of the wooden napkin holder ring. *This is a good time to teach kids a few safety tips about glue guns (i.e. don’t ever touch the tip, make sure it’s unplugged when you’re finished, etc)

Step 2

Spray paint each podium in the corresponding color. Make sure you do this outdoors away from everything! Use short bursts and try to give everything an even coat. Try to avoid drips by applying a light coat. But really, don’t stress too much about drips if they happen. This is a homemade toy after all. Those little touches just make it more interesting, right?

Step 3

Let the podiums dry and you’re ready to play.