Felt Board Tutorial

It's Day 20 of...

Lydia Grace played with her new felt board in the car on Sunday--the one I made and posted yesterday.  I wish I had taken a picture of her playing with it.  She seemed to like it.  They are simple to make and great for car trips.  Here's the tutorial.

Supplies:

*Thin piece of wood or a small dry erase board (We'll call it the base of the felt board.)

*Felt

*Batting (It doesn't have to be very thick.)

*Fabric that coordinates with the felt

*Glue gun

*Sewing machine

*Basic sewing supplies (pins, thread, scissors...)

Directions:

1. Cut out one piece of felt that is the same size as the dry erase board or piece of wood and one piece of felt that is two inches longer on all sides.

2. Cut out a fabric piece that is the same size as the smaller piece of felt.  Use your pinking shears to cut across the top of the fabric piece only a few inches down from the top.  Sew the felt and fabric together by sewing around the entire perimeter of the felt.  Once your have sewn the pieces together, cut around the outside with your pinking shears to give it look nicer.  This will be the pocket for the back of the felt board.

3. Cut out a piece of batting that is the same size as the larger piece of felt and lay them on top of each other.

4. Lay the felt and batting face down.  Center the base piece on top.

 5.  Glue the batting and then the felt over onto the base piece.  Make sure you are pulling both layers tight before gluing them down.  You will have to glue down one layer at a time and one side at a time.  I did the two longer sides first and then the shorter sides.  Do not worry about the corners yet.

 6. Cut off any excess batting and felt before gluing the corners down.  Get them to glue down as flat as possible.  It's like wrapping a present.  Don't worry if it looks messy--mine does.  It will all be hidden by the back pocket piece.

7. Glue a piece of batting down in the open area at the back.

 8. Use the hot glue gun to glue the back pocket piece on carefully.

 9. Your felt cut-outs can be tucked away into the pocket.

 10. When it is time to play, place the cut-outs onto the front of the felt board.

 Easy and fun!