I wanted to make a babygym for our babygirl.

It seemed quite easy, and I thought I had proper plywood for it, but I ended up buying some of better quality.

When planning to build a babygym, find some inspiration and draw up a raw sketch. I opted for upside-down V-shapes for the sides and a crossbeam with big holes. for attachements.

Then find some dimensions. I went with sides 60x60 cm (12 mm ply) and a cross beam 8 cm x 60 cm (18 mm ply). All of it birch plywood.

When you buy a sheet of plywood for the sides, remember that you can put them opposite each other (like an A and a V), to save some wood.

Supplies

Plywood - I went for 90x60 cm in 12 mm, and had some 18 mm at home
Screws and washers

Tools

Pencil
Ruler, square, measuring tape
A round object
Jigsaw
Powerdrill
Small drillbits (3 mm & 5 or 6 mm)
Bigger drillbit (I had a 25 mm Forstnerbit. Could have been a holesaw instead)
Some powertool for sanding (I had a Delta sander, but whatever you have)
Sandpaper (end up with some fine stuff. A baby's gonna touch it)

Optional (didn't have, could have helped)

A router
A sawguide
A circular saw

Step 1: Draw the Parts

Legs

I opted for triangular legs. The triangles were 60 cms high and 60 cms wide, which I drew out on the plywood.

Then I found the with of the legs (5.5 cm perpendicular to the sides).

At last I found a round object and used that as a template to round the upper and inner angles in the top as well as the bottom of the legs. Be aware that it might get tricky to saw out the inner piece if it has to small of a diameter.

Upper beam

The upper beam was just a 60 cm wide and 8 cm high rectangle.

I drew lines for every 15 cms on both the height and the depth, and marked the center of the lines for later usage.

Step 2: Cut Out the Pieces

Find your saw of choice and cut out the pieces.

Step 3: Drill Holes in Upper Beam

As mentioned before, mark out a decent number of holes for attachments.

Mark out both on the height and the depth of the upper beam.

I used a small diameter drillbit (3mm) for pre-drilling.

I then used a 25 mm Forstner-bit for the big holes and a 5 mm drill for the connectionholes (from the bottom to the big holes).

To get nice, big holes without tear outs, drill halfway through, then turn the piece and drill from the other side. The pre-drilling makes this quite easy.