Earlier this summer, I managed to score a big lot of flannel board characters and stories for a couple of bucks at a yardsale. We have been playing with them on the floor and with a very small lap sized flannel board. I have had visions of a larger flannel board for quite some time, and thought that if I bought the pieces, I would make it a bigger priority to make one! Well, having the pieces really didn't help to change my priority of things to do list, that is, until this week!
I had a scrap piece of hardboard and cut it to fit the bottom three shelves of one of our tall book shelves. (The dimensions are 28" x 43"). I gave it a quick coat of primer, and then covered one side with white felt.
Then I hinged it to the book shelf! "Ta, Da!" A giant flannel board! The great thing about it is, the other side has a little overlap from the felt, but is basically a blank slate. It will make a great chalkboard if I ever remember to pick up that chalkboard paint at the hardware store!
Even though we have a lot of great pieces for the board already; we decided to make some of our own. One of our favorite books is:
This was a very easy book to make a flannel board set for. The pages already have the exact shapes cut out for you to trace and cut!
I adapted the pieces so that the hair and teeth were one solid piece instead of lots of little pieces.
Our monster is fantastic, although like most things we try..... I think we might need to make a bigger one! I might trace the images and enlarge them on the copier so that we can make a GIANT SIZED BIG GREEN MONSTER!
Some of the older girls wanted to try to make their own pieces for the flannel board. They have been using scissors with paper for quite some time. However, they learned that cutting fabric is much more challenging than cutting paper. Persistence and fabric scissors lead to lots of cutting success!
I shared this post on Teach Preschool, hop on over and look at all of the other great felt board ideas! http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/11/every-day-flannel-board-play/
Comments
Jaclyn, I used a flannel backed tablecloth for my felt board. It only costs like 3 dollars I think.
Thank you so much for offering to send me a postcard from Michigan and Denmark! I am really excited! I lived in Michigan for a few years when I was a little girl. Please send me your address and I will send you my daughter's!
light and blessings
@Autumn mama- great idea! I thought of using old/torn books to do the same thing, but not the idea of making copies. BRILLIANT!!!!