Mellisa and Doug Wooden Box Lids

The kids received several Melissa and Doug stamp kits as gifts over the holidays.
Each kit came in a small wooden box with dividers.
They are great for storage as long as you keep them upright. The problem is that they are open top boxes and come shrink wrapped in plastic, missing a key feature... a lid.

This drove me nuts so I decided to remedy the situation.

The result was a see through plastic lid secure enough to invert the kit without losing everything, yet still simple enough for a 2 year old to open.

All it took was about $5 in materials and 10 min of time.

Tools:

• Clamps (or tape) 
• Straight edge metal ruler (a guide) 
• Plastic cutter 
• Pliers
• Materials:
• Magnetic Tape 
• Clear acrylic panel
• Sandpaper, file, or concrete
• Sharpie Marker

Steps:

1.  Put the wood box on the panel and mark off the two sides to cut.
2. Clamp the guide to the panel (or tape it)
3. Score the line against the guide with the plastic cutter, repeat 10 times
    (a flat head screwdriver or any sharp pointed object that will scratch plastic will work)
4. Put the plastic on the edge of a table and snap off the edge
5. Repeat for the second edge
6. If you don't get a clean break you can use the pliers to snap off any jagged edges
7. Remove any sharp edges with sandpaper, a file, or by rubbing against a rough hard surface like concrete or brick
8. Affix a section of magnetic tape to the box. (my tape was too wide so I cut it in half lengthwise)
9. Cut a matching size piece and stick it to the one on the box. This is important to make sure that the pieces are in the correct orientation to attract and not oppose.
10. Repeat on all four sides
11. Remove the adhesive backs to the top magnets
12. Align and place down the plastic panel on top of the magnets
13. Use the sharpie to make a dot on one corner of the box and also matching on the plastic cover. This will make sure you put it back on in the correct orientation and will have no issues with the magnet orientation causing them to oppose and not secure.