Fun with Felt – Quiet Books

Last year for my birthday I asked my Mother-in-Law Mumsie if she would make me a Quiet book for my kids to play with during sacrament meeting since lets face it – my boys can get CRAZY and my Mother in Law is pretty much the most A-MAZING seamstress I know. 🙂

Not only did Mumsie make an AWESOME quiet book for ME – but she also decided to make one for all my other sister-in-laws who had small children as well. Isn’t she incredible?

However, over the past year or so of using the quiet books I’ve found that some of the pages were either coming apart or not holding some of the fun items in place- so we were losing a lot of the parts to the books. Inspired by my friend Missy’s blog and her awesome post on a quiet book she made with her own finger puppets http://thisnthatmissy.blogspot.com/2011/05/quiet-book.html I also decided to do some updates to our old quiet book.

Mumsie once again was my saving grace and did all the sewing for me (while I did the cutting and decorating) but while working on these puppets and other felt items I discovered something about myself….I really enjoyed getting my craft on! In fact, I’ve been having a ball cutting out felt and thinking up new pages and researching other peoples fun ideas online that I decided to make a 2nd quiet book before Sis comes so that while I’m home for 6 weeks with the new baby – Adam has more to keep the boys entertained at church.

This has seriously been SUCH a blast for me – and I’m really loving using my creativity to come up with new ideas and to make other peoples quiet book pages more my own. Below are some pages that Mumsie and I “made better” from the old quiet book and then further below are some of the pages we’ve been working on for the *new* quiet book. I seriously am loving working on this and putting my heart into it and I love knowing that I can make something my kids will hopefully cherish over the years.

Next I cut out (and Mumsie sewed) some new fish (we’d lost about half of them). Now we have 2 or 3 extra in case any get lost again – and more colors for the kids to choose from.

Then I also decided to add some new puppets to this page. Originally the pocket on the right had a pad of paper and pen in it – but it kept falling out so instead I made this into a Phineas and Ferb puppet holder. Mumsie sewed on some velcro so the puppets would stay in and then also sewed the puppets together once I had them all cut out and decorated. She did an amazing job! And the boys LOVE this new page!

The last page we did in the old quiet book was the Money page. The original idea was to put REAL money in the piggy bank – but because their was no zipper – the money kept falling out and getting lost. So most weeks this page wasn’t too fun for the kids to play with. Instead I cut out a bunch of felt and made play money that the kids could use and because its all felt – it STICKS to the pig and doesn’t fall out the top anymore. This page is now a big hit with the boys and Branson is learning more about recognizing the shapes and colors of money. And he of course loves counting all the money in the bank too! So fun!

Now onto the *New* Quiet Book. One of the first pages Mum and I put together was a “What time is it?” page where I could teach the kids how to tell time using a digital clock and ticking clock. In the little yellow pockets on the right page the kids can take out numbers to change the time. There are 2-3 of each number as well so that they can really make any time they want.

One of my next pages I wanted to do was a picnic page. The original design just had the kids opening up a picnic basket and setting a place mat with a plate, knife, spoon, fork, cup and napkin. However, I wanted to take it one step further – and so I decided to also make a bunch of picnic foods that they could play with as well. So I made a hamburger including buns, meat, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and cheese, and then also did a hot dog, bag of potato chips, slice of pizza, watermelon, strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, banana, orange, apple, grapes, carrots, potatoes, corn, a fried egg, and two slices of bacon. Then I also made 3 different felt drink colors that could be use as orange juice, chocolate milk, and water that the boys can put over the felt cup. This is probably Branson’s VERY favorite page. He and the other boys love playing with all the food and pretending to use the silverware etc. And Mumsie did an incredible job sewing the picnic basket, placemat, and putting in all the velcrow.

Next to that page I also came up with a “word of wisdom” idea where the boys could learn what stuff is good to eat and drink and what is not. On this page the boy on the right can “eat” the good foods (from the picnic basket which will be on the page to the left) or they can throw the “bad stuff” in the garbage. For this page I made a felt bottle of alcohol, a mug of beer, a pack of cigarettes, cup of coffee or tea, and a bottle of drugs.

Next I cut out the parts to do a tick tack toe – which is a game Branson loves to play with Adam or Harry during church. This should keep the kids busy at least for a little while. 🙂 Below that Mum and I also made a page where the kids can make a HUGE ice cream cone using different flavors. Mumsie also sewed on an ice cream truck to put all the flavors in so that they don’t get lost. All of them are Velcro though and stick to the page as well. (The tick tac toe is velcro as well – but hadn’t been sewn yet in this picture).

Next I did a Mr. Potato/Mrs. Potato Head page (again taken from Missy’s blog). This is definitely one of MY personal favorite pages and one where I was able to get really creative. I tried to make at least 3 sets of everything including eyes, hair, hats, outfits, ears, noses, mouths, and shoes. But my very favorite is the one below of the “missionary.” He’s just so stinkin cute! Mumsie did an awesome job sewing the felt head on and putting velcro where it needed to go as well as making a big zipper bag to put all the parts in so they won’t get lost.

BUT…As far as pages go though – this one is definitely my Fave. I found this online but re-made it into my own and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is just so adorable and I love how all the animals turned out as well. With this one the kids can put the animals in the old ladies mouth and then take them out the bottom. All the pieces are velcro’ed on as well so that they won’t get lost or the kids can just leave the animals in her mouth (which is really a big bag as long as the light purple you see below). This is sure to be oodles of fun for the kids. 🙂

In addition to these pages Mumsie and I have also made a page with a girl with long hair where the kids can learn to braid, do pony tails, clip in bows etc. Then we also are making a page with two beds and two felt dolls that the kids can tuck into bed. Then in addition to that I’m also making a big closet next to that page where the kids can dress up the dolls in different outfits. I actually found a really great deal on some already made felt dolls online and bought the dolls and their outfits – and the boys this last week LOVED playing with those during church even though they aren’t in the new book yet (I just cut them out and put them in a zip lock baggie to take with us). I’ll have to post pictures once we got the rest of the pages finished.

Anyway, this project has been SO MUCH FUN for me and I am absolutely loving getting my craft on. A HUGE thank you to my Mother-in-law Mumsie for all her help. I’ve pretty much been up to her house every other day for the past week and she has been a life saver in sewing everything on for me. I couldn’t have done any of this without her. She is so amazing. Love you Mumsie!

More pictures coming soon…