This is a picture of the felt board I made for my kids for Christmas. It's a large size about 17" x 23". Because we are going on a long, long car ride, I decided to make a travel felt board so the kids have something to do besides saying "Are we there yet?". This tutorial is for making a small felt board, but the same principles apply for making a larger one, only the larger size is much easier to make.
Materials:- one bulletin/cork board with a frame in whatever size you'd like (I'm using a small chalkboard)
- solid color felt (you can also use flannel), preferrably with a wool/polyester blend that you find on the bolts in the fabric store cut to about the size of the bulletin board you will be using
- scissors
- butter knife
1. Cut the felt so it is about the same size as the frame of your bulletin board. You will want to have extra because inevitably it will go in crooked and you don't want to be short sided.
2. With the butter knife, start to push the felt in-between the cork and the frame. It will be a tight squeeze, so it will stay in place nicely. You will need to smooth the felt and trim the excess as you go.
Voila! That's it. It's that easy. It will take you all of 5 minutes to make!
Notes on felt board pieces: You can always make your own felt board pieces using craft felt cut to the shapes desired. However, this is very very time consuming especially if you want to do something like Goldilocks and The Three Bears. I have cut out my own very simple shapes (cars, trees) and I have not been happy with the results. It was easier for me to get a few books on felt board activities from the library, copy the pictures onto cardstock, color them (or have the kids color them) and attach the felt to the back of the pictures. Here are a couple that I used: Felt Board Fun For Everyday and Holidays, and Felt Board Fingerplays. However, the kids like to create their own creatures using basic shapes which are really easy to cut out.
To see another idea on traveling felt boards using cardboard boxes visit Plum Pudding.
6 comments:
I love the little personal felt boards and the recommendation of the book where you just photocopy and put felt on the back. I am going to make some for Samuel and Ava, they will love this!
Love this. I also have directions on my blog but it is for making felt boards with cardboard or coroplast:
http://www.fun-activities-for-kids.com/how-to-make-a-flannel-board/
You can also get pre printed felt boards and figures at http://www.funfelt.com Have fun with the felt!
Karen
I just love your posts. Learning so much from you!
Oh, how I love flanneboard stories! That was my favorite when I was a preschool teacher. I loved to see the look of the children's faces as I was storytelling. I also had a ton of felt stories handmade by me, but I finally had to get rid of them. I also made a flannelboard out of foamcore, batting and felt. Great post!
That is so cute- what a great idea for the car. My 4 year old would just love this and it doesnt seem to difficult to make!! :)
this is wonderful, thankyou!!!!!!
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