Felt Board

I have been wanting to make a felt board for quite awhile, I just haven't gotten around to it. I finally picked up the supplies a couple weeks ago, so all I needed to find was the time. A few nights ago, I got both kids in bed by 7:10 (the newbie has been up until about 9 for the last month, usually crying and fussing, so by then I am to tired to do anything). What was I to do with the evening that stretched ahead? So I went for it!

I must say, this did not turn out anywhere near how I would have liked it to. I used the back of a black board I was given, this way I can make it a two sided activity. I could not find full pieces of felt, but I am still keeping an eye out for them so I can redo it someday. 

I started by hot gluing one piece of felt to the board. The rest had to be cut to fit. Hindsight tells me that because I had an upper and lower section I should have used blue and green, to represent sky and grass.

The flash makes the end result look a little worse than it actually does. Again, I am definitely going to keep an eye out for larger pieces of felt. There is only one craft store in my city, so prices are not very optimal. I got these small pieces at a dollar store, out of the three in my town, only one carries it.

I hopped on Pintrest for ideas, my first project was a face. It was all done freehand, so forgive the fact that he looks like a redneck bumpkin from some 80's cartoon. I do not have access to a printer at home to make templates, so it looks kind of funky. The eyes, nose, mouth and hair are all removable. The ears I glued on.

Project number two were some shapes to match. Peach circles, white ovals, green triangles, orange squares and blue rectangles. I decided not to get into octagons and such, especially while cutting freehand. She's only two, so the basics are all she needs now anyway.

Finally, a set to dress. I stuck with just a head and neck, and I skipped out on hands and feet for now. I gave my person two shirts, two pants (that are smaller than the shirts because they were made first), two hairstyles: blond straight and a red pigtail, and a baseball cap to make it more boyish.

Here she is all dressed up in black and blue.

And by switching out the hair for a cap, we have a man dressed in black and blue. After making these, I figured I'd give up while I was ahead and before I wasted all my felt.

Each set is being stored in an individual zipper sandwich bag, and in a plastic container. Eventually, I may make a small spot to hold them out of cardboard to go on the bottom of the board, where there is a different section that I didn't felt (on the front, it is a spot to hold the chalk for the chalkboard).

So, was it a hit? Meh...

It caught her attention for maybe 10 minutes. The pieces didn't stick as well as I had hoped, so that disappointed her a little, causing her to lose interest. 

She pointed and chatted, telling stories in her own little way, the whole time. After awhile, though, she basically packed it up and told me to get it out of her play area by pointing to it and to the kitchen.

So, I think it needs a revamp before rolling it out again, and figure out a way for it to stick better. Otherwise, it was just a project to wile away an evening.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

~Natasha.