Earlier this summer, I managed to score a big lot of flannel board characters and stories for a couple of bucks at a yardsale. We have been playing with them on the floor and with a very small lap sized flannel board. I have had visions of a larger flannel board for quite some time, and thought that if I bought the pieces, I would make it a bigger priority to make one! Well, having the pieces really didn't help to change my priority of things to do list, that is, until this week!
I had a scrap piece of hardboard and cut it to fit the bottom three shelves of one of our tall book shelves. (The dimensions are 28" x 43"). I gave it a quick coat of primer, and then covered one side with white felt.
Then I hinged it to the book shelf! "Ta, Da!" A giant flannel board! The great thing about it is, the other side has a little overlap from the felt, but is basically a blank slate. It will make a great chalkboard if I ever remember to pick up that chalkboard paint at the hardware store!
Even though we have a lot of great pieces for the board already; we decided to make some of our own. One of our favorite books is:
This was a very easy book to make a flannel board set for. The pages already have the exact shapes cut out for you to trace and cut!
I adapted the pieces so that the hair and teeth were one solid piece instead of lots of little pieces.
Our monster is fantastic, although like most things we try..... I think we might need to make a bigger one! I might trace the images and enlarge them on the copier so that we can make a GIANT SIZED BIG GREEN MONSTER!
Some of the older girls wanted to try to make their own pieces for the flannel board. They have been using scissors with paper for quite some time. However, they learned that cutting fabric is much more challenging than cutting paper. Persistence and fabric scissors lead to lots of cutting success!
I shared this post on Teach Preschool, hop on over and look at all of the other great felt board ideas! http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/11/every-day-flannel-board-play/
10 comments:
That turned out great!! Where did you find the felt big enough for your board? I really like how you've hinged it on the shelf :)
I had the felt in my craft stash. I'm not sure when where I bought/accumulated it! I know most fabric stores sell it by the yard. That was another great thing about this, it was a stash buster! I had all of the materials already!
Do you know that they also make magnetic paint. It's not super strong but it will hold refrigerator letters and stuff like that.
I have also wanted to make a much bigger felt board, the one I made out of a diaper box is really too small.
Jaclyn, I used a flannel backed tablecloth for my felt board. It only costs like 3 dollars I think.
Thank you so much for offering to send me a postcard from Michigan and Denmark! I am really excited! I lived in Michigan for a few years when I was a little girl. Please send me your address and I will send you my daughter's!
Hi Amy ! i run an approved Dayhome here in Alberta Canada ! just thought i would stop by and say hi! Just wanted to share with you what i do for felt board stories sometimes! If there is a book you would like to make into a felt board story- simply scan the pics from the book(just for your own use),cut them out, laminate them and glue a small piece of velcro on the back. Voila ! instant (or as instant as we can get in dayhome) felt board pieces! ! ta - da !
light and blessings
@April- You're welcome! We love to participate in post card swaps!
@Autumn mama- great idea! I thought of using old/torn books to do the same thing, but not the idea of making copies. BRILLIANT!!!!
I love it, Amy! Go Away Green Monster is in my list of "must have" books and I love that your kids helped make the pieces! What a boon to find all those sets at a yardsale~better than any treasure I can think of! Thanks for sharing this with me! :)
So fun. Jealous that you got all those felt sets at a yard sale! I think it is amazing that you hinged it and attached it to a bookshelf. How wonderful.
Love the board Amy! So big! :) And it's great that kids help recreate story pieces! :) Guess that if they can do it, even one sewing dummy like me can too! :)
Thanks for linking up to Every Day Flannel Board Play Amy! You rock:)
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