Somos Licatas: Activity Board

Around Isaac's first birthday, Joe and I started talking about possibly building him some sort of activity board. He's been very interested in light switches, turning things on and off and loves anything that can give him a good cause and effect. So I wanted to give him something that would let him (safely) explore these things.
It took a while to get moving on it, but here's the finished product! I'm really happy with how this turned out not only because it was relatively cheap and easy to make, but also because Isaac really seems to love it. I'm hoping that he has a lot of fun with it until a few years from now when he'll inevitably ask to disassemble it and take a look at the wiring.

To start, I looked for inspiration and I found these:

These provided a good foundation, but they weren't exactly what I was looking for.

We headed to Home Depot and let Isaac lead us to his favorite gadgets. He went straight to the light switches.

We ended up coming home with this:

Out of this lot, I ended up using a different kind of wire, only 2 sets of hinges, and and added on some LEDs, 9V batteries, and some battery clips. I decided to go with LEDs because I wanted to have an actual light go on and off when Isaac flipped a switch, but needed a light that wouldn't get too hot or possibly shatter. Having working lights also meant that the board would need some sort of back enclosure to cover the wiring so I opted to make a board that had a large front and back panel with a thin piece of wood around its edges to complete the enclosure.

I already had this bright aqua paint in my repertoire (snagged it from the mis-mixed paint section some months ago) and thought it would make a great background color for the board.

The foundation and backing were 2x2 birch plywood. After tracing the basic layout, my brother-in-law cut out the openings for the light switches and then I drilled the holes for the LEDs.

Then there was the wiring...
I am no wiring expert, so I did a little research into what I would need and how to make it happen and then just gave it a go.

My oh-so sophisticated wiring diagram...

The first try - it works!

Hooked up - a look at it from the back side of the board. The small metal clip at the bottom is where the battery will rest.

The front of the board, paint drying with switches and LEDs installed.

The back, completed

The front, wiring complete with face plates attached

The extra color on the switch plates was done by gluing scrapbook paper to them.

I have learned a thing or two about making proper 90 degree angles from the many mistakes I've made in projects past. In this instance, after some thorough measuring and precise cutting, I was happy with the outcome.