American Girl Knock-Off Balance Beam (How To)

Just before Christmas a good friend asked if Mr. SP could make a balance beam for her daughter’s American Girl doll for Christmas.  After a quick look at McKenna’s beam and bar on the American Girl website on my phone, I knew that Mr. SP would have a blast building this.  (Little did he know that I would insist on helping.)

 

We were able to complete this project by using materials that we had on hand.  We started by finding a chunk of wood in Mr. SP’s wood stash that would work.

 

Mr. SP then used the table saw to cut it to an more appropriate size for the doll to use as a balance beam.

 

It was then sanded smooth on all sides.

 

For the legs, Mr. SP traced a peanut can onto a piece of wood and we used the chop saw to cut the long piece into three equal sized ones.

 

I held the pieces together while cutting them out with the band saw.

 

The pieces were sanded smooth.

 

Mr. SP sanded off the top of the half circles to make a flat edge for the balance beam to rest.

 

The beam was painted hot pink and the legs silver.  (A spray paint trigger keeps my hands clean.  If you don’t have one of these, you need one!)

 

Mr. SP made supports for the legs and they were glued in place.

 

To make sure that the beam’s legs wouldn’t fall off, Mr. SP screwed them into place.

 

What little girl who loves gymnastics and loves American Girl dolls wouldn’t want to play with this.

 

We’ve heard that the recipient is telling people that “real live elves” make a balance beam for her doll.

We like being “real live elves”!  It was a privilege to make a little girl happy at Christmas.

Sharing With:
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage
Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now
Grace at Home at Imparting Grace