travelling felt board

[fullcirclesb]

my ds loves making our felt board together and I was thinking of making one for the car. Any one done this or have any suggestions? Any one know where I can get patterns for dinosaurs and garden type things?
Thanks
Sarah

[LaLa]

I just got one that was made with a bag (drawstring ) attached to the board with velcro. All the little pieces go in the bag when not in use

As for patterns, the mom just free-hand cut everything in an underwater theme.

It turned out great

[peggy]

I some times use coloring books for patterns,

peggy

[Roses]

Well, I am the one who made Lala's...let me see if I can describe how I made it-I made about 10 of them all at once.

I cut a peice of card board in two peices-The size you want the board to be when it's opened. I cut 2 peices of felt about 2-3 inches larger than the cardboard. I sewed a pocket with the felt, and then sewed in a 'binding' so it would fold, slipped the cardboard in, and sewed shut. Pretty easy. Cutting the cardboard it the hardest part.

I did cut the felt shapes free hand-it was an under water theme. (I make super cute crabs and seahorses-imo!) You could use kids' stencles for a pattern, and I just bought sponges that are cut in shapes that are supposed to be used for spong painting, but I thought that they would be great felt board shapes-but anything is fun really, My dds like regular old shapes as much as anything else.

[fullcirclesb]

Thanks Roses!
I'm going to work it this week end!I'll let you know how it goes
Sarah

[MamaCO]

I made them for my kids for the car out of cookie sheets. I saw this in a magazine somewhere--maybe Martha Stewart???

Anyway, use the sheets with a lip. Glue the felt to the bottom (not lip side) and then the kids can use the top (lip side) as a magnet board or tray for coloring with crayons, etc.

It would be really cool if you made a folded piece of felt with the pocket for storing the pieces on the flap and some sort of velcro closure at the bottom for when they want to flip the board over to use the magnet side. I didn't think of that until I read these posts.

When we travel I put a plastic crate in the middle of the backseat between the two car seats and they keep all of their things in there. It's easy to scoop out when we get to our destination or back home and keeps the "I dropped my..." to a minimum.

[saganaga]

fullcirclesb

I saw a felt board book in a catalog that would work wonderfully on a child's lap in the car.
http://www.magiccabindolls.com
You could order the kit from them or make your own soft book out of felt.
For patterns for felt pieces try cookie cutters, stencils, lots of craft books have templates (of many different shapes) in them.
Hope this helps.

[LdyBluNH@aol]

i can picture making a pocket, but i got lost on the binding thing....

can you maybe re-describe it (for the intellectually impaired like me???) ]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Roses
Well, I am the one who made Lala's...let me see if I can describe how I made it-I made about 10 of them all at once.

I cut a peice of card board in two peices-The size you want the board to be when it's opened. I cut 2 peices of felt about 2-3 inches larger than the cardboard. I sewed a pocket with the felt, and then sewed in a 'binding' so it would fold, slipped the cardboard in, and sewed shut. Pretty easy. Cutting the cardboard it the hardest part.

I did cut the felt shapes free hand-it was an under water theme. (I make super cute crabs and seahorses-imo!) You could use kids' stencles for a pattern, and I just bought sponges that are cut in shapes that are supposed to be used for spong painting, but I thought that they would be great felt board shapes-but anything is fun really, My dds like regular old shapes as much as anything else. [/QUOTE

[imakebelieve]

I know I am reviving an old thread. But, I have a great way to make flannelboard pieces. I used some of those chunky stamps. I painted on white acrylic paint and stamped them on colored felt. Then I cut them out. I give these as gifts along with a homemade felt board, so the purchase of the stamp is feasible about a $ each at Walmart. There are so many cute shapes to choose from. And the stamps provide just enough detail to make it easy to cut out and interesting to look at. When I give them as gifts, I put them in a ziplock book. i take ziplocks and tape them together at the bottom to form a book. I make a felt cover and slide the pieces inside along with a fingerplay or two. When I was a teacher I used to trace pictures from books on white pellon with permanent markers. Then we had the felt board to match the book.
Laura

[Raihana]

Special felt?

Can you use simple old walmart style felt for this or do you have to use a special blend? I'd like to make one but need to know this first. Any special pointers not already mentioned would be appreciated too!

[fullcirclesb]

i just use the cheapie stuff for most of the things that i do, but it would be nice to use the handmade stuff too. the thing about it is it's really hard to screw up!!!

[Raihana]

Found a neat idea

I searched the net today on this & one site suggested using a pizza box for the board & storage.The top of the box serves as the board while the area that holds the pizza is used as storage. My DH stopped at papa jphns & asked for a box & got it for free. I am planning on covering the whole box with contact paper or fabric. & putting the felt on the inside bottom as well as the top.

I have started cutting pieces from some walmart felt already. I am using my Dd's favorite book that she loved to pieces (literally). This way she can continue to hear & even participate in her favorite story.

Here are some sites I found:
http://www.lessontutor.com/kp2.html
http://www.dltk-kids.com/books/hungr...r/felt_fun.htm
http://www.mawmawlynn.homestead.com/
http://www.kidslikeours.com/projects/flanbd/flanbd.htm
http://lettertv.net/pages/feltboard.htm

[rwikene]

A really great place to get different kinds of felt peices is at teacher supply stores. I worked at a preschool and would go there all the time. They have already cut out felt peices, simple shapes....or they have ones you can cut out yourself but are like stories. If you ever went to Sunday School and saw the story of Noah, or something like that and the felt people look like actual people....the boat looks like a boat, all the details and everything. That is the kind you can cut out. They have all sorts of stories, not just bible stories....they are also great quality.

We made a flannel board at the preschool this is how it was done:

You take a box with a lid that is attached on one side...think about an ice cream box only bigger and flatter. Then you take a peice of Felt a little bigger than the box, and hot glue it onto the inside rim of the box. Voila, you are done, put the shapes of felt into the box and now it's portable.

It also makes a great quiet time activity when a child is too old for naps but needs some rest. That's what we used it for at the preschool

Rachel

[rwikene]

Another thing you can use instead of felt is used dryer sheets...make sure they have been through the dryer or they won't stick as well. Then you can put them on top of a pic in a coloring book you like and you can trace the pic and even color it in....be careful the marker will go through, and might get all over you if you don't watch out. I made some pictures that I liked, that had nothing to do with eachother and then just made up stories adding new pictures as we went, or I would ask a child to pick a picture and continue the story for about 30 sec to 1 min....there were a lot of kids in my class and I didn't want this activity to last all day....it was great to see their creativity

[LdyBluNH@aol]

i was looking at the felt boards and pieces in stores and i noticed that the pieces have details painted on them

how do you do this? do you use acrylic paint? how do you get it to adhere to the felt as opposed to just sitting on the top layer of fuzz?

can you use markers on it instead? i would think that wouldnt be as visible

[fullcirclesb]

I used a marker and it works great. Puff paint looks good too but comes off after hard play.
I intentionally leave some peices with out detail because I think that it leaves room for imagination.

Sarah

[LdyBluNH@aol]

here's how my endeavors have gone so far into making the pieces....

i bought some small chunky stamps for 40cents each at AC Moore. they really are nothing more than fun foam cut into a shape so i'd think it would be possible to make that if you really wanted to

i'm using acrylic paint and find that i cant get thick coverage. i hate stamping over a stamped image so after ruining three of them, i went for a new plan.

i grabbed some of my scribbles paints. they come in a plastic bottle with a very fine point to them and are mostly used for decorating tee shirts

i tried some with outlines around the stamped image and found what i liked best was to make the outline and then use the tip to smear the paint in, making it not so bumpy and also giving a more solid color

i suppose i could just use the scribble paint on the stamp -- that will be my next angle!