Homemade Toys for Toddlers - Felt Board Ideas & DIY Links

When I came up with an idea to gather in one post online resources about creating homemade toys for toddlers from felt and flannel, first thing that crossed my mind was to gather ideas for no-sew felt toys. 

Picture credits: One Inch World

Truth that lays beneath this is really simple: I'm total dummy when it comes to sewing! My best effort would be to sew a button back when it falls off. :) And I'm sure that there are many parents out there who were so amazed with great fabric toys they saw around the net but simply though that they are out of their reach because of.... Well, we can't sew!!! This and couple posts that will follow in next couple Thursdays will clearly show you that we're wrong! 

We can make felt toys for our toddlers AND we don't have to know how to sew! 

Focus of today's post will be on felt and flannel boards. After all, this is the basic toy you'll need for some of the ideas that will be added in following posts.

There are many variations in sizes for felt story boards - from small, portable felt boards (some of them can be folded and some can be rolled) to really big panel felt boards for classrooms. For home based activities, maybe the best option would be middle sized felt board that can be easily turned in travel felt board you can easily carry for vacation or shorter trip.

The simplest and the best explained step-by-step tutorial for felt board I have seen online can be found on Cut Out + Keep: Make your own flannel or felt board 

As you can read in this tutorial, you can attach felt sheets to create felt board on number of materials (ply wood, core foam, cardboard, etc.) and using this tutorial you can create felt board in which ever size you like. Only thing to remember is that felt sheet always needs to be a bit larger so it can be attached and secured on the back.

Now few variations of the basic felt board from above... 

You can create felt board using picture frame like this one from Three Sneaky Bugs:

Or create decorative wall hanging felt board like this from Family Fun:

Or this simple travel felt board using tutorial from Katie's Nesting Spot:

Then again, you could turn your magnetic write board to multipurpose activity board using idea from Oopsey Daisy: 

Or even turn pizza box into portable felt board with storage like on The Many Layers of Me:

Or you can use any kind of box or shallow container (like candy boxes) to turn them into mini travel felt boards like this Valentine's day themed felt board from This and That about Kids:

I surely hope you're now convinced you don't have to be sewing wizard to create these simple but very engaging and helpful felt board for your toddlers! :)

We'll continue our journey into felt and fabric world next Thursday with some simple games and activities that can assist teaching toddlers in fun and imaginative way! Hope to see you back here!

Don't miss the sequel of the homemade felt toy serial: Felt Board Playsets DIY and Inspiration

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Best Toys for Toddlers

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