felt is my friend



Rintoo

 For all of the mothers (like me) out there who have never learned how to sew, there's hope! I have been very blessed to discover the wonder of felt to make special little things for my daughter without having to sew them. Although I would love to learn to sew one day, for now felt is a very good friend of mine! Probably the first item I made using felt is Rintoo the Tiger (from one of my toddler's faves, Ni Hao, Kai-lan). The directions are here and it actually works for older preschoolers as well for discovering and expressing different emotions by changing Rintoo's facial expressions. For now, he stays happy, but his mouth is attached only by Velcro so that I can add other mouths later.


Cotton balls work great for stuffing felt creations, and I found a strong and durable glue, Aleene's Fabric Fusion, which has passed the toddler test so far. Bean bags are great fun and useful for many activities. I have made two of those so far: a square and a circle. They are different colors and also have on them the numbers "1" and "2" so that they are fun to throw and educational, too. They are filled with barley, and we haven't had any leaks! (Just more evidence that the glue works great!)

My daughter, after seeing a statue in the Poconos, has become quite enthralled with owls. Apparently, she's not the only one because I see them on little girl's things everywhere I go now! My latest project was the owl mommy and baby. My daughter saw a similar owl baby toy in a magazine and loved it. After seeing an owl sampler project using felt in another magazine, I put the two together and made her this.

The possibilities with felt are endless, and I'm sure I will soon be using some in Torah projects and crafts as we study the Parashot.

Felt projects are easy and fun, so enjoy!