Homemade Felt Boards and Stories

My now 4 year-old daughter has loved stories ever since she was an infant. We would read to her constantly, many times the same books over and over (and over and over and over…). So a few years ago I decided to make some felt boards at home so we could practice retelling her favorite stories together.

full size felt board and a mini travel board

First, I made her a full size felt board. I bought a corkboard at Michaels, sprayed it with an adhesive and glued some felt on it. Super easy! Then, I decided it would be fun to also make a smaller version she could take on trips.

two mini travel boards

This was also pretty easy (even for a majorly beginner sewer). I just sewed some felt together with some cute fabric and added some ribbon!

But, my favorite part of the whole project was actually making the felt pieces to go with Lucy’s favorite stories. When she was about 2, we made the pieces for The Very Hungry Caterpillar (affiliate link). We sat down with the book and made a list of all the things we would need to make for the story. Then, I would do the cutting, and Lucy would help me glue the pieces together.

some pieces from The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Even at age 4 she still loves playing with this. It’s even become more of an independent activity for her. She can read the story on her own as she’s retelling it.

Another one of her favorite stories was The Snowy Day. (affiliate link) (Actually any story with Peter in it quickly became a favorite)!

An easy way I’ve found to organize the stories is to just stick the pieces in a large baggie. Take a photo of the book, print it out and tape it to the front. Ta da!

The stories in their well-loved baggies!

Lucy has just started her final year of preschool. How in the world does time fly so quickly!? I just went through my fabric scraps and had enough to sew a few more mini boards for her classroom. I don’t think I’ll add the ribbon ties to these. I figure it may just be easier for the kids to stack them when they are not using them. Maybe as the holidays and seasons come and go, I can make some felt sets for the classroom to go with the boards. I’ve seen a lot of cute ideas for some on Pinterest!

class set of mini felt boards in progress

Now that my one year old son is quickly growing (actually 14 months today!), I’m sure we’ll have many more fun stories to create together. I’m looking forward to many more special memories!