How to make an easy Light Box for play and learning

We’ve made a DIY light box before and have loved playing and learning with light.  Light boxes are such a great way to encourage fine motor, sensory, visual perceptual skills, handwriting, language, creative thought process, and more.  We made another version of our Super Easy Light Box and when I say super easy…it doesn’t get much easier!


What is a light box used for? Sensory, learning, fine motor, and play


How to make an EASY light box

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Make a light box easily for learning and play
Start with a plastic bin with lid.  You’ll need your bin to be clear or see through. The size doesn’t matter, as long as it’s comparable to your light source.  We used our handy bright lantern.  This thing is heavy duty and we use it all the time.  The kids use this lantern for pretend play, outside play during summer nights, exploration adventures, Pirate explorers, ghost hunters…this lantern gets it’s run of play!  It fit pretty well in the bin that we used for our DIY light box, and the Bright LED light made a great light source.

DIY light box for kids to learn and play

Pop the lid on the plastic bin, and your light box is done.  How easy is that??!  

We used our DIY colored glass gems on the light box for sensory play.  These things are so easy to make and we’ve used them all the time for all sorts of fun activities.

Use a DIY light box for easy learning activities



Sorting, color patterns, math patterns, counting, number place values, adding, subtracting…this is light and math and fun all in one activity.

Use colored gems to learn patterns, counting with a light box

These look so good on the light box!  The best part is when the kids want to play explorer Pirates again, you just need to pop the lid off the bin!


We’re planning to use our glitter letter manipulatives on the light box next!

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