The other day I was out shopping with Elliott when I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach. That feeling was the fear that maybe–just maybe–I had become one of those moms who didn’t work with or stimulate their second child as much as she did her first.
I couldn’t live with that fear festering inside me, so we rushed to a teaching supply store in search of preschool teaching tools. I found little to nothing that suited what I had in mind. As we roamed the aisles, I tried to think back to my school days and dug deep in the recesses of my scattered brain for hands-on learning tools that I might have enjoyed as a kid. FELT BOARDS!!! I had to find a felt board and fast!
I did find one in the store. It was small, plain and expensive for what it was. It just didn’t feel right.
So, I ran next door to the craft store and gathered supplies. And…enter the felt board tutorial!
What I used:
- 1 20″x30″ foam board (like poster board, but…foam)
- A large section of felt (I bought 1 yard of 72″ wide felt and had enough for 2 boards)
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun & glue sticks
- Trim & decoration
Spread your felt out on a flat surface. Place the foam board on top and trim felt about 4-5″ larger than your board in all directions.
Take one corner and fold it inward, securing with plenty of hot glue.
Repeat with remaining 3 corners and your board should look something like this:
On 2 opposite ends of your board, fold the felt over and glue. Make sure to pull it tightly and evenly so that your finished product will look nice and tidy.
Repeat with remaining sides. Remember…nice and snug.
Now it’s time to make it pretty. Flip it over and decorate! Elliott chose green rick rack.
And it just wouldn’t be right without some purple eyelash trim…right?
Finished product and my little satisfied customer…
And the letters?
I got our felt letters in the scrapbooking section of the craft store, but you can find all kinds of felt cutouts on Etsy, Ebay, teaching supply stores and your local craft store. I plan to cut some of the more simple shapes by hand when I have more time. Also…I thought little families of felt stick figures would be fun! And maybe a little felt house, pets and a car! Oh man, felt boards are fun for moms, too!
(Green alternative: rather than using foam board, use a good sturdy piece of cardboard from a leftover box if you have one available. Use scraps of felt and trim that you have around the house or find at a garage sale. Reduce, reuse, recycle!)
Michelle says
October 28, 2009 at 6:49 pmLove it! I think I may try making a smaller one for long car rides. 🙂
abbie says
October 28, 2009 at 6:56 pmWhat a great idea, Michelle! I may do the same!
–Abbie
Holly says
October 28, 2009 at 7:15 pmThanks for the great tutorial! I’ve been wanting to make a felt board. The felt letters will be great for my early reader. You could also cut up a bunch of shapes, print some tangram patterns and have her do some easy tangrams.
Chris says
October 28, 2009 at 8:11 pmAbbie, it’s fabulous, I love it. What a great mom you are.
Diane says
October 28, 2009 at 8:12 pmYou could also hot glue a couple pieces of cardboard together to make it even more sturdy….omgosh I can’t wait to try this!
Amy says
October 28, 2009 at 9:17 pmWhat a great Christmas present! Hopefully it will keep Maddy busy while Abby does her “school work”.
Katrina says
October 29, 2009 at 7:15 amAwesome tutorial. I see a few Christmas presents being made 🙂
Kristie says
October 30, 2009 at 9:43 amI love this idea. Please be my mommy, thank you.
Clarence Jasionowski says
January 13, 2010 at 12:15 pmYou not going to believe it but I have lost all day scrounging for some articles about this. I wish I knew of this site earlier, it was a interesting read and really helped me out. Thanks again,
Karen says
February 6, 2010 at 10:08 pmI was looking for this very tutorial several months ago and couldn’t find any in a google search. Just love that you have these simple directions and I already have the supplies. Thank you, thank you!
Lisa says
August 30, 2011 at 4:26 pmHey, cool! Thanks! I’m needing to make something I can take on and off the table for playing card games. This fits the bill nicely and is right in line with my sewing skills (which are none…). Thanks again!
Rosie says
August 4, 2013 at 8:37 pmGlad I found this because I wasn’t sure hot glue/glue would work. I’ve got the foam board and flannel and wasn’t sure how to effectively mount to board.
I think I’m going to use a few glue dots on the front and maybe sides for extra hold w/o bumps or lumps of glue.
Ann says
February 7, 2018 at 10:10 pmFor a brief, horrifying second looking at the picture of your satisfied customer, I thought she had a huge bouffant hairdo. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized it was the couch arm…
Beautiful job. The way you folded in the corners was really helpful – I am contemplating a similar project and was struggling over how to best do the corners.