DIY Baby Gym Tutorial with Free Printables

I have been dying to make a DIY Baby Gym for my baby girl for months… and I finally did it! And the best part is, I think she’s just as in love with it as I am. Yay! It turned out so cute! This is definitely an easy DIY Baby craft project that should be on your list. Take a peek!

DIY Baby Gym Tutorial with Free Patterns for the hanging toys (rainbow cloud, sun, etc) found on CraftaholicsAnonymous.net

DIY Baby Gym

Her favorite thing is the Rainbow Cloud. She loves feeling all the elastics on her hands and tugging on them.

Handmade Baby Gym with rainbow cloud toy www.CraftaholicsAnonymous.net

I’ll admit the Rainbow Cloud is my favorite part too! Who doesn’t love a good rainbow?! ha!

Baby Gym DIY Tutorial with plans and free printable patterns for the hanging toys @CraftaholicAnon

This DIY Baby Play Center has a simple design that folds up for easy storage.

DIY Rainbow Cloud stuffy baby toy - Free Pattern

Seriously, if you ask Baby P, the rainbow is by far the best part! I gave a couple sneak peeks of this project on my Instagram. Make sure to follow along to get a glimpse of crafts I’ve working on!

How to Make Baby Gym - free plans and printable pattern - love the sleepy Rainbow Cloud

Ok, ready to learn how to make this adorable DIY Baby Gym? Let’s get started on this month’s Sun and Raindrop Template post!

DIY Baby Gym Tutorial

Supplies:

  • 3/4″ diameter wood Dowel
  • 1×2 pine board with rounded edges, 8′ long
  • Fold Over Elastic in 7 colors in 7″ lengths
  • Thin Cotton rope
  • Cotton String
  • Cotton Balls or Batting
  • 2 sheets of White Craft Felt
  • 1 sheet of Yellow Craft Felt
  • Fray Check
  • Black Thread
  • Sewing Needle
  • Scissors
  • Printer
  • Paper
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • 4- 15mm bells
  • Leather Hole Punch {I used a Crop-a-Dile for this}
  • 5/8″ Wood Beads
  • 7/8″ Wood Beads
  • 3 Wood Rings {these were super hard to find. I scoured 2 craft stores and finally found them here.}
  • Sander
  • Saw
  • Drill
  • Wood Glue
  • Blue Leather – scraps are perfect since you only need a little! I recommend a soft genuine leather, not bonded leather. I got my leather scraps from an etsy shop that sells finished leather products.

Canon Printer

  1. First, you’ll want to print off my Free Cloud, Sun, and Raindrop Patterns. I used my Canon TS6020 Printer. I love how compact this little printer is, but dang this little printer has huge printing power! It’s been great for all my crafting needs from photos to patterns like these.

Click below to download:

Sleepy Cloud pattern - free printable - DIY kids toy stuffy stuffed animal

2. Using scissors, cut out 2 clouds in white felt, 2 suns in yellow felt, and 12-13 triangles in yellow felt.

hand-stitch

3. Hand stitch on the cloud and sun’s faces using black thread and sewing needle.

DIY rainbow cloud toy

4. Stack the cloud as followers: side with the face with face up, fold over elastic in the order you’d like, and then the other side of the cloud. {you’ll stack the sunshine in the same manner}

sew-cloud

5. Carefully stitch around the cloud and leave a 3″ opening at the top of the cloud.

Stuffed Cloud toy softy

6. Turn the cloud right side out and stuff it. I used cotton balls to stuff mine to get a lumpier look, but batting works just as well.

sew

7. Wrap a small piece of cotton rope around one wood ring and carefully sew the ends of the rope to one side of the cloud’s 3″ opening. Add a few more cotton balls to completely fill the cloud and then hot glue the 3″ hole shut. Tie knots at the end of each elastic and seal off the elastic with Fray Check.

DIY Sunshine toy stuffee stuffed toy

8. Repeat Steps 3-7 with the Sun.

leather-rain-drop

9. Cut 2 raindrop shapes out of the leather and punch a hole in the top of each of them. Tip: When cutting out the raindrop shape, it is easiest to tape the template on top of the leather and then cut it out. That way the template doesn’t move and you mess up your unforgiving leather. :)

raindrop-side

10. Using a long piece of cotton string, thread through one of the leather raindrops. Add a bell to the front and back of the raindrop and then thread on the wood beads, alternating sizes in a pattern you like. After I finished one side, I threaded one of the two strings through the wood ring and then continued beaded with both strings going through the beads. Below gives you a little visual of how I threaded it.

Wood bead baby toy diy

tie-off

11. When I got to the bottom of the second side, I threaded on 2 bells and the rain drop, similar to the first side, with only a single string through the bells and raindrop. Then I tied off the 2 strings above the bells, but below the wood beads as you can see in the picture above. Trim excess string and fray check the ends. Then hide knot with the bottom bead.

cut-wood

12. Cut your wood to size as follows: 1×2 into 4-23.5″ long pieces, dowel to 29″ long. *Always wear safety glasses and gloves when using power tools.

drill-holes

13. Using a Drill with 3/4″ bit, drill holes all the way through 2 of the 1×2’s. Then on the other 2 pieces of 1×2, only drill half-way through. {see picture below} Measure before you drill to make sure you get the holes in the same spot in each piece.

wood-mess

glue-wood

14. Put wood glue in one of the boards that is half-way drilled out. Then slide the dowel through a board with a complete hole and press the end into the wood glue. Put the wood rings onto the dowel and repeat the glue process with the other side. Allow to dry for 4-6 hours or as instructed on bottle of wood glue.

Tip: Make sure the free swinging wood pieces and toys do not touch the glue while drying!

15. Sand down the corners of the wood so that they are rounded and smooth.

tie-knot

16. Drill a hole about 1/3 way down on all 4 side pieces and thread thin Cotton Rope through the holes and tie a double knot. I used two lengths of rope that were about 12″ long for this. After I tied the knot, I trimmed off the excess rope and used Fray Check to seal the ends.

DIY Baby Toy gym - Great for exploring and learning

Then let the little person in your life have a blast playing with their new DIY baby play center!

***NEVER leave a baby unattended with the baby gym. Adult supervision required.***

baby-gym1

If you make this DIY Baby Gym, please tag me on social media! I’d love to see your version! 

DIY Baby Gym tutorial with Free Printable patterns for the Sleepy Rainbow Cloud, sun, and raindrop

 

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by Sun and Raindrop Template. All opinions are my own!
Linda
Hi! I'm Linda, the craft addict behind Craftaholics Anonymous®, a craft blog. Crafting is cheaper than therapy, right? When I'm not DIYing something, I can be found taxiing around our 4 crazy kids or working out. Or shoe shopping... because you can never have too many shoes! Happy crafting! ♥
Linda
Linda

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Comments

  1. 1
    Jennifer Johnson

    Thanks for the instructions on this play gym. I had fun putting it together! I used items I already had around the house just bought wood & wood rings!

    1. 1.1

      Awesome! I’m so glad you made one, Jennifer! :)

  2. 2

    What an adorable idea!!! I simply love it. I looks super cute and I love how baby seems to be having tons of fun. Thank you for posting the idea!

    1. 2.1

      Thanks, Kelly!

  3. 3

    So cute. Thanks for the great instructions.

  4. 4

    How beautiful! Very creative!

    1. 4.1

      Thank you!

  5. 5

    very cool both to stimulate the baby and to be simple to do, thank you!

    1. 5.1

      Thank you for stopping by, Pamela :)

  6. 6

    Hey. It’s not safe to wear gloves while operating rotating blades.
    Awesome tutorial. Going to make it.

  7. 7
    Elaine Powell

    I’m an engineering teacher and I just wanted to say, you should NOT use gloves when using power saws. Your glove could get caught and rip your hand off, literally. Please don’t wear gloves!

    I also want to say this is such a cute project and I’m making it right now. Just wanted to say about the safety factor.