How to keep toddler from lifting the hvac grate on the floor?

Question

We have an 18 month old who spends a lot of his time hanging around the living room area with toys and such. Gated off with baby gates to prevent him from going down the hallway or into the kitchen. In the living room are a couple of hvac grates on the floor that he loves to pull up and pay with.

For one of the grates, we have covered it with his jumparoo so that he can’t lift it up, and the air can still come out. But for the other one, we don’t have something like that we can out there in that space.

What can we do keep the grate on the floor? If we put a heavy box or bin there, he will pay with the bin until he takes the lid off. Also, anything that's not heavy enough he will just push around the floor.

Ideally we would want to still have it open to air flow, but if we have to just cover it then fine. Is there a way to simply keep it stuck to the floor, without permanently ruining the floor with something like screws?

Answer 1

• Lift the grate and look underneath for a place in the duct where you could attach a piece of cord or wire, e.g. a hole, a projecting screw or sheet-metal overlapping a corner.
• Put a piece of cord or wire at that point.
• Pass the cord or wire through the grate.
• Twist it around a thicker part of the grate and knot or bend it in place.