Felt Board

Good Morning!

Today I'm so excited to share off my latest creation for Gavin! But first, to give credit where it is due...

If you are a reader of I Am Momma Hear Me Roar, you will know that this idea very much stems from her playroom project. If you're not yet a reader of Cheri's fabulous blog, get over there are check it out already! :)

Also, I've just been feeling very inspired by the blog Made by Joel where Joel Henriques shows off his creations. He always has these fabulous and incredibly simplistic toys for his children and they are so awesome. It makes me wish I had his set of skills (mostly the wood-working part).

So I decided to make a felt board for Gavin. I'm sure we have all seen these before, in our kindergarten classroom if nowhere else. I wanted to use Cheri's funny face idea, but to also have a place to play with felt that had limitless potential. The felt board I made is plain white and very light weight so it is portable, easy to store away in a closet or wherever, and can be used for any fun felt game you can come up with. I made the board and got a big stack of felt for around $30, so it's really cheap as well. I'll give you a quick rundown at the bottom if you want to know how to make one yourself!

I just started making some pieces for the faces. I bought this plastic container with adjustable dividers so I can store all the little pieces! While I knew from the start that this creation was going to be fun and a little educational, I realized as Gavin started to play with it that it will be good for all sorts of things. (Learning where to put the features of the face, sorting them at clean up time, the coordination required to have the pieces stay on properly, etc.)

Ok, if you would like to make one of these, here's what you'll need:

1 piece of foam poster board (I used a 1/2 inch thick, 20x30 inch piece)
a glue gun, or other glue of your preference
1 piece of white felt or flannel that is at least 6 inches longer and wider than your board

Here's how to do it:

Lay your felt out. If it has wrinkles, you can iron them out (even with the fake felt). Just be very careful. Use your iron on its lowest setting and test a corner first to make sure it won't burn the felt. Be careful not to stretch the felt as well.

Next, centre your board on top and starting with one side, wrap it onto the back and glue the felt onto the back of the board. Make sure it is pulled tight, but don't pull to hard or you will stretch the felt out.

Do this around all four sides. If you want to make it really tidy, you can also have a piece of fabric or felt on the back. (see photo below, mine isn't that tidy, but it will keep my felt in place better and you can't see the poster board.) You could also be very neat about the whole thing, and glue the front felt onto the edges rather than wrapping it around to the back, and then put another colour of felt or flannel on the back for even more options!

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