I came across this while cleaning out a file cabinet and thought I would share it.
When my kids were younger they LOVED to act out stories and tv shows using felt boards. Schools have them and so did the local library story hour and the kids story hour at the bookstore. But I could NOT afford the felt boards or many of the packets of characters for them.
For a group of kids I took sticky backed felt and file folders and made my own. Each child got a file folder and a cheap pencil pouch or cosmetic type bag. The file folder opened up to felt glued to the folder. In each pouch (I got them used because there were about 20 kids) I had cut felt into basic shapes. I also had some of the fancier felt with things printed on it. I cut those up around the shapes so they could also be used. And i made some people out of some of the felt so each child had about 30 different felt pieces in their pouch (I cut them out while answering phones for a jewelry catalogue co.).
My kids were busy for months iwth those. they wrote stories, cut their own shapes and characters out of felt, etc.... One easy and fairly cheap source of characters was buying small amounts of fabric with popular characters printed on it. We first cut a circle about 1/4 to 1/2 inch bigger than the fabric character. That was glued onto a piece of felt and when dry, trimmed so the character was all that showed.
The felt people will stick to the felt board and they work quite well for very little money.
If you want a sturdier board, consider glueing your felt to a piece of cardboard. Actually a stiff artist's board - not sure the right name but a board with a canvas texture on one size and paper on the other, sold to paint on - is pretty ideal. the edges are not as sharp as a piece of cardboard or matboard, and the canvas is porous enough that the glue gets a good hold. If you don't use sticky back felt for this part, spray glue works better than white glue. Use white glue sparingly or it will seep through the canvas. rubber cement might work well also.
If you have a child that babysits, this would be a fun thing to take when babysitting younger kids. It would be special for when the sitter comes, so the kids would enjoy it more. It makes them want the sitter to come if she brings something special, Know what I mean??
When my kids were younger they LOVED to act out stories and tv shows using felt boards. Schools have them and so did the local library story hour and the kids story hour at the bookstore. But I could NOT afford the felt boards or many of the packets of characters for them.
For a group of kids I took sticky backed felt and file folders and made my own. Each child got a file folder and a cheap pencil pouch or cosmetic type bag. The file folder opened up to felt glued to the folder. In each pouch (I got them used because there were about 20 kids) I had cut felt into basic shapes. I also had some of the fancier felt with things printed on it. I cut those up around the shapes so they could also be used. And i made some people out of some of the felt so each child had about 30 different felt pieces in their pouch (I cut them out while answering phones for a jewelry catalogue co.).
My kids were busy for months iwth those. they wrote stories, cut their own shapes and characters out of felt, etc.... One easy and fairly cheap source of characters was buying small amounts of fabric with popular characters printed on it. We first cut a circle about 1/4 to 1/2 inch bigger than the fabric character. That was glued onto a piece of felt and when dry, trimmed so the character was all that showed.
The felt people will stick to the felt board and they work quite well for very little money.
If you want a sturdier board, consider glueing your felt to a piece of cardboard. Actually a stiff artist's board - not sure the right name but a board with a canvas texture on one size and paper on the other, sold to paint on - is pretty ideal. the edges are not as sharp as a piece of cardboard or matboard, and the canvas is porous enough that the glue gets a good hold. If you don't use sticky back felt for this part, spray glue works better than white glue. Use white glue sparingly or it will seep through the canvas. rubber cement might work well also.
If you have a child that babysits, this would be a fun thing to take when babysitting younger kids. It would be special for when the sitter comes, so the kids would enjoy it more. It makes them want the sitter to come if she brings something special, Know what I mean??
