Quiet Book - Matching Game

I found some dump truck buttons on Etsy and thought they would make a perfect matching game for Kellan's Quiet Book.  Actually a pretty hard matching game - they're all the same shape, same wheels, but all have two different colors on them.  My next challenge was that there weren't enough different color combinations.  So I problem solved that #likeaboss and used markers to make some new color combos.  

I had to really think through this one.  For the game to be fun more than once, you have to be able to move the pieces around, so I cut out a lot of little squares.  I sewed Velcro to half the squares and hand sewed a truck button to half the squares and then sewed the Velco squares and the truck squares together.  Then I cut flap pieces, sewed those to the background pages, finally I sewed Velcro under the flaps.

My mom and I played it and it was very fun!

Thinking of making a Quiet Book - an assortment of felt will help get you started!

Learning Your Name Quiet Book Page

This is a pretty cool page!  To make the "paper" I used different colors of thread in my sewing machine.  On white felt, I sewed the top and bottom lines with a tight stitch and then the widest possible stitch for the middle.  Then I cut my nephew's name out of a double layer of felt, then I stitched them together, to give the letters a bit of weight.

The other side of the spread was a little pocket, with a snap closure to store the letters.

 

Underwater Quiet Book Pages

I like this page because it incorporates a lot of activities.  

1. Fishing - the fishing pole has a magnetized worm at the end of it and then there are magnetic fish hidden in the "wave" pockets.

2. Once you've caught the fish, you can open the whale's zippered mouth and store the fish there.

3. You can fold down the bottom of each page and find all kinds of things there.

4. One of the things you find is a treasure chest, which has a real latch to undo.

5. The jellyfish is also a finger puppet.

 

Quiet Book - Snowman Dress Up

Since I was giving this gift at Christmas, I wanted to include either a Santa or Snowman page and I settled on Snowman. I came up with a dress the snowman concept and made a bunch of hats, scarves and a few ties for the snowman to wear. Here was the planning phase:

I just copied and pasted hats I found online to use as templates for my hats.  I knew I wanted the hats to look super cute and realistic, so that meant a lot of detail work and hand-sewing.  I made a polka dot tie by adding French knots (first time doing them) and it turned out so cute!!!

Then I ordered really wide Velcro and made the entire snowman out of Velcro. Then I used stick on Velcro dots on the back of the hats and on the closet page.

For the background, I made snow on the ground and a few pine trees.  I made an adjoining page with shelves to store the hats.

For this Project you'll need: 

light blue felt sheet

white felt sheet

dark green felt sheet

brown felt sheet

colorful felt scraps (for the hats)

orange scrap (for the carrot nose)

wide Velcro

sticky back Velcro dots

needle and embroidery thread

sewing machine

Two small black buttons (for the eyes, optional)

snowflake brads (optional)

                                                 

If you're thinking of making a quiet book, an assortment of felt will help you get started!

Quiet Book - Pepperoni Pizza Counting Page

Something else Kellan loves is pepperoni!  I saw this on Pinterest and loved the idea that he would count the number of pepperonis on each slice and then match that with the corresponding number.  I also tried a new technique for this page and it turned out great!  Iron-on numbers.

I used this picture of a pizza as my template, which was super helpful because trying to freehand, I really had trouble dividing a pizza into six slices!

I used brown felt for crust, red felt for sauce, antique ivory felt for cheese and red again for pepperonis.  I also made a "pan" out of gray felt.  I attached Velcro to the pan and to the back of each crust piece.That's where the pieces of pizza will be stored.  Then when Kellan is playing with the book, he can move the pieces to their corresponding number (but the pieces won't stick to it).

If you're thinking about making a Quiet Book, an assortment of felt is a great way to get started!

Quiet Book - Tractor Puzzle Page

For this Project You'll Need:

2 light blue sheets of felt, cut to 8.5 x 8.5

1 sheet of white felt, cut to 9 x 9

Gray felt, scraps

Yellow Felt, scraps

2 buttons

velcro

needle and embroidery thread, for sewing the buttons

sewing machine

Kellan loves John Deere tractors, so I decided to make this tractor into a simple puzzle page.  I started with making the tractor on a felt page cut down to 8.5 x 8.5.  Then, using my rotary cutter, I cut this page into four pieces.

Then I took my second light blue sheet of felt and cut it into four pieces and sewed a piece of rough velcro on the back of each one.

Then I put a tracor square and a Velcro backed square together and sewed around the edges.

Then I sewed soft Velcro onto the white background page, corresponding with where it is dewed on the 4 squares.

If you're making a Quiet Book, a felt assortment is great to have on hand:

Quiet Book - Tic Tac Toe Page

I liked this as a page because Kellan has an older sister who could play this with him.  To make this page, I started at my computer and used Word to create a template for myself of a hashtag symbol (or pound sign or number sign if you're not a millennial) as well as the Xs and Os.  I think it helps to see how easy it is to design your own template.  This is what my screen looked like - I just used shapes to give me a starting point.  

Once I had the basics, I added a few things, for fun, practicality and aesthetic. 1. A place to keep score.  One team is yellow (the Os) and one is green (the Xs).  I inserted a transparent film page, cut to size into the score board.  I also added a dry erase marker and a felt eraser.  

One more cute, but practical thing I needed was a place to store the Xs and Os when not in use, so I make this little envelope and embellished it with a foam heart.

If you're thinking about making a Quiet Book, an assortment of felt is a great way to get started!