This was the general idea for the project. The dimensions for the board were determined by the size that the University make space offers. The idea was to have a 3 layer design where the two base boards were 1/8th inch thick while the pieces were 1/4 inch thick this way they slightly stick out and are easier to grab. Considering that a two year old would be using that I felt that it would make it a better experience. 

Utilizing Inkscape, a free graphic design software similar to Adobe Illustrator, I was able to pre-plan and layout the general form of the board, and color code the parts so that the laser cutter can separate the engraving and the cutting sections. In the laser cut software you are able to layout what you want laser cut at each time, but I felt that it was simpler to lay out the different pages to how they are going to be cut out to avoid errors and confusion. 

This was the simplest part of the process. Since I had done my drawings before using the laser cutter it was as simple as uploading the file and running the program. The engraving was set to the highest quality so that the letters and shapes would have a slight texture which was a subtle, but nice detail. There was an issue with the font that I had used not being valid with the laser cut software so on the fly I had to edit the font and rewrite the text.