Ikea Hack: Toddler Learning Tower Stool

Now, Isabelle was never your typical toddler. She never tried to dive off the counter or anything (something Nicolas would absolutely do if you took your eyes off him for even a half second) so the sitting wasn't that much of a problem, but it also meant I always had one arm on her leg which was not a very efficient way of cooking. So I started looking into alternatives.

Here's how to make your very own learning tower:

• Ikea BEKVÄM stool
• 6′ long 1×2 (¾ x 1½") piece of wood (*) cut into four 15½" lengths (**)
• 6′ long 1×3 (¾" x 2½") piece of wood cut into four 6″ lengths and two 12½" lengths (**)
• ½" dowel rod (shortest length you can find) cut to 12½" (**)
• 16 x 2¼" #6-8 wood screws (***)
• 14 x 1½" #6-8 wood screws (***)
• wood filler
• spray primer - we used about 1.5 cans for the whole stool (****)
• spray paint - if your primer is the same colour as your stool, one can should be enough for the entire stool, otherwise you'll need 2 (****)

(*) I used pine because it's cheap soft. Make sure you use a soft wood for this project (pine, ash, birch, etc.) or else it's going to be a nightmare trying to drill your pilot holes and screw in anything by hand.

(**) You can get your wood cut at Home Depot to make your life that much easier. It costs something like $1 per cut but I hardly ever get charged and they're super quick even if not always the most precise. There will be a bit of extra left over for all three pieces of wood - keep it in case the Home Depot cuts don't all match up. I've had good and bad experiences with their precision so it's better to be safe and have some extra.

(***) Whilst both screw sizes work, if you want to lessen your chance of splitter, the smaller #6 screws will definitely be better.

(****) If you want to save a bit of money, go for traditional paint as you won't waste as much. I hate painting and, since it's a relatively small amount of wood, I'm okay paying that little bit extra for the convenience of spray paint.

Here's the wood cut list again, to make things easier for you (L x W x D):

• 15½" x 1½" x ¾" (39.3cm x 3.8cm x 1.9cm) x 4
• 12½" x 2½" x ¾" (31.2cm x6.4cm x 1.9cm) x 2
• 6″ x 3/4″ x 2½" (15.2cm x 6.4cm x 1.9cm) x 4
• 12½" x ½" (31.2cm x 1.3cm) round dowel

For reference, my learning towers are 35¼" (89.5cm) high, which was the height of the counter in our old condo. Our current counters are a bit higher but I wanted to match the heights of both stools. If you want to match your counter height exactly, measure the distance between your floor and top of your counter and subtract the height of the ikea stool (about 19¾" or 50cm with a floor protector pad attached to the bottom). This will give you the length of your four 1 by 2s (the first item in the cut list).

it seems IKEA has changed the size of the top plate of their BEKVÄM stool. It's now deeper than it used to be so you can make your frame a little bit bigger, which will give your kids a little more room. Make sure to measure your stool before starting. The top of my stool is approximately 9″ x 14″ (22.5cm x 35.5cm). If your stool is larger than that, here is a simple calculation to determine your wood pieces:

• Length of the longer horizontal support beams and round dowel (12½" / 31.2cm in my tutorial): STOOL_WIDTH [ minus ] 1½" (3.8cm)
• Length of the shorter horizontal support beams (6″ / 15.2cm in my tutorial): STOOL_DEPTH [ minus ] 3″ (7.6cm)

STOOL_WIDTH is the width of the of your stool, not the whole assembled stool. Same with the STOOL_DEPTH (aka it's the depth of the top plate rather than the whole stool).

• drill (you can rent a drill from Home Depot for $16 a day)
• 1/16″ drill bit for #6 screws (or 5/64″ for #8 screws)
• screwdriver
• tape measure or ruler
• level
• 90° wood clamp (recommended) or protractor (or anything that will give you a true 90° angle, such as a hardcover book or a rectangular cutting board)
• electric sander or sandpaper
• pencil

Take your pre-cut wood and sand all the ends as well as the edges (to keep toddler fingers safe).

Before we go further, let me just point out two different ways of doing this. I first created the entire top frame and attached it to the stool at the very end. However, all the tutorials I've found online first attach the vertical beams and then the side support beams. I found it easier to get the pieces aligned without already being attached to the stool but both ways should work fine.

Nicky's new learning tower is actually my third learning tower. The first one we just completely winged it in terms of holding pieces together in what we was straight / perpendicular lines. It was not. I was too embarassed to keep it in my house so I "gifted" it to my mom (sorry, mom). Anyways, this to tell you that a 90-degree angle clamp is soooo worth it! You can grab a cheap one for 20 bucks on Amazon and, if you're ever planning on doing another DIY project that involves corners (e.g. a DIY frame, giant chalkboard, etc.), it's worth the investment!

pine is notorious for wood splitting, and screwing close to the edge of a piece of wood makes splitting wood more likely. Two things you can try to avoid splitting the wood are:

1. Use paraffin wax to lubricate the screw before you screw it into your wood.
2. Use a countersink bit when pre-drilling your holes. Amazon has lots of options, like this inexpensive set. I personally haven't used countersink bits yet, but I'm ordering myself a set before my next project with pine as I've heard good things.

if you want to make your stool as sleek as possible (aka using wood filler on top of the screws to effectively hide them in step 11), make sure to have them be completely recessed. Pine is not the ideal wood for this even with pilot holes so there's a fine line between getting your screw in far enough to wood filler on top vs. going too far and splitting the wood. Just do this part manually and slowly and you'll get a feel for when to stop.

Put your frame upside down and attach the Ikea top piece to your frame with four 1.5″ screws.

This is completely optional but I like to wood filler over the screw holes as well as any other imperfections in the wood to make the learning tower as sleek as possible. (I didn't put wood filler on top of the Ikea screws since those are not recessed.)

Again, totally optional, but now is the time to spray paint. Start with a coat of primer and follow with a coat of paint. I'm using flat paint because I like the look best, but if you want them super easy to wipe, use a glossy finish. (Our first stool, also using flat paint, has a few slightly off-coloured spots now after 1.5 years of daily use but it's honestly not very noticeable. I also didn't add a topcoat - I'm lazy like that - and it's been fine.)

This learning tower is soooo worth the effort, you guys. Not just for having your littles help cook in the kitchen without you worrying about them falling off counters or regular stools, but I can leave both of my kids in the learning tower by the sink and they'll happily play with the water for a good long time while I get other stuff done. (Make sure you put a towel under there though. I've learned that one from experience.) And I've also trained Isabelle to make me coffee. (Notice that her stool is right next to the Nespresso machine haha.) She climbs up into her stool, turns the machine on, gets a tab, basically does everything except lift up the coffee mug to pass to me. If that's not a worthy investment, I don't know what is.

I'm asked a lot about the aprons the kids are wearing. Isabelle's is from Fine Little Day (love their Gran print for so many things!) and Nicolas' is a hand-me-down adult-sized apron that shrunk (a lot!) in the wash lol. If you're looking for kids aprons, Ferm Living also makes gorgeous aprons. We have the rose rabbit and mint dot aprons as well.