Mama Loves Our DIY Learning Tower

Have you seen a Learning Tower before? A Learning Tower is a safe way for young children to be at counter height to participate in cooking or whatever activity you are doing.  Learning towers have adjustable shelves so that as your child grows you can lower the shelf they stand on and the counter can continue to be at the perfect height. It's like pulling a chair over to stand on, but so much better. Google them and you will see that they sell for around $199 most places.

This one by Little Partners is $199 on Amazon

A $199 price tag is pretty hefty for me, especially since I'd need two for Sam and Anna.  So when I saw plans to build your own learning tower on pinterest (claiming a material price tag of only $20!), I quickly had my husband forward the plans to my very handy father-in-law.  He had it completed in time for a birthday present... with one slight modification:  twice as wide for double the kids to stand on it.  I LOVE it!

This thing is ridiculously awesome.  Before the DIY learning tower, we tag-teamed Sam and Anna for counter top projects:  one of us would be the spotter to catch kids that might topple off the chairs we had them stand on, while the other adult got to participate in the fun.  This also meant that I wasn't brave enough to have both Sam and Anna stand on chairs at the counter unless both adults were home. Not an ideal situation.

Best things about it:  It has an adjustable height with the shelf.  Non-tipping!  The sides make it extremely difficult to fall out.  Fits flush with the counter.  Easy for toddlers to climb into and off on their own! And did I mention the materials only cost about $20???

Our tower (the other side has Sam and Anna's names stenciled on it.  I didn't realize it was facing that way until I uploaded the pictures.)

I will admit that it is large, especially since ours is made to be roomy enough to fit two kids at once.  We don't permanently keep it in our smallish kitchen, but we store it against the wall on the other side of our breakfast bar.  100% of the time Sam and Anna can have counter top viewing if they want, but if we do a project or they help with cooking we move it over to the other side of the counter.  The plans on Ana White's website  do include directions for hinges to make the structure foldable, but we chose to forgo that part to make the tower more sturdy (since it would be twice as wide and hold two times the kids, we thought that was important).

I can't wait to use it as a fort with blankets this summer, too!  Or gosh, even a puppet theatre as they get older.  This thing is going to be around for many years to come.