DIY: Baby Gym

Since we started trying to get pregnant, I knew I wanted my baby's toys to be as organic and all natural as possible- limiting the amount of plastic and unknown chemicals we willingly allow them to chew on. I knew I wanted mostly wooden toys as well as silicone. I can honestly say, it has been a challenge to find inexpensive silicone and wooden toys. But, when my mind is made up, it's made up. There have been a few things I knew I just don't want her to have. The first being one of those excersaucer toys or, as we like to call them, A.D.D makers. I don't see the benefit of having a ton of plastic, light up, shiny noise makers shoved within inches of my sweet baby's face. The same goes for a baby gym. Or does it? I know she must have stimulation and I won't be able to be by her side every second of the day, but I didn't want her to have a ton of those gaudy plastic toys hanging in her face with Lord knows what chemicals in them (I know, I sound over protective and completely hippy. I don't care). So, I started looking at wooden baby gyms with minimal toys hanging from them. I found a few, but the cheapest I could find was $30 at IKEA. The downside? I'd have to drive to Massachusetts to buy it. At 37 weeks pregnant. In the winter. Do you sense a theme here? The next cheapest was $50, but I wasn't sure I was absolutely in love with the design. I started a search to build my own. Honestly, the DIY versions I was finding seemed VERY simple, much cheaper than the ones I had wanted to purchase, and I would be able to personalize them a bit more. Some of the tutorials I found online required tools we don't have and for it to be made in a space we don't have. I wanted this to be something I could easily assemble right in my own living room. I found a tutorial for an easier to assemble baby gym and decided I'd give it a go. At most, I'm out $20 (still cheaper than the IKEA gym, and I didn't have to leave my home town!) Here are the photos I took. It's still a work in progress but, we're getting there!

The materials you'll need are wooden dowels and PVC connectors. I may, or may not end up keeping the PVC connectors. They didn't work the way I hoped they would so I may end up finding a different dowel connection.

 These are 3 way PVC pipe connectors. They were labeled as 3/4" (the same size as the dowels) but the dowels are a little loose. We are going to try and screw the pipe connectors onto the dowels tomorrow evening for a little bit more stability.

Of course you may need a helper.

Because one side of the connector has a female end screw, I ended up having to hammer the dowel into it.

The semi-finished product. I plan on changing up the toys a bit and putting some softer toys on there for her to play with at first...and definitely some that are a bit more all natural. I have a wooden teether picked out for her to try. All in all, this design has flaws but, like I said, we plan on trying to fix them with screws. If that doesn't work, we have a plan C. But seriously, at this point I've spent about $18 on the entire structure. Spending a few more dollars to ensure 100% safety for my daughter doesn't bother me in the least!

Pardon the horrible photo quality. I fell asleep for a couple hours after building it and when I woke up, it was getting dark!

 Layla is still squirming around in my belly. I have had no signs of labor except for being incredibly sluggish and having irregular contractions. Tuesday morning can't come soon enough!