Easy Peasy Train and Tunnel Pull-String Quiet Book Page

I will eventually have posted enough Easy Peasy quiet book pages that you can make a whole book full... this is number 5!

You might notice that it is very similar to my last post Matthew 24 - Gospel to the Nations Quiet Book Page. I made them at the same time, although I made two of this version for a couple of books I made for some friends.

This page is suited to the toddler age I reckon, and it is great because there are no loose pieces. And no loose pieces means that they can't get lost! 

This page was actually my sister's idea which I have copied. She made something similar for a page in a book she gave to a friend, and when I asked her to share her pattern with me, she said she didn't make one and that she didn't even take a photo before she gave the book away! Not happy, Jan.

My sister's page differed a little from mine, as she had an entrance to the tunnel at both ends (you can easily flip my template and make it an entrance at both ends if you like). She also had a mountain over the tunnel which it went through. I suppose that is better because there is actually a need for a tunnel in that case, but I wanted an Easy Peasy page and here it is...

How to make my Train and Tunnel Pull-String quiet book page:

Materials needed:

• felt scraps in gray
• thread to match
• window blind sample in stone colour to tie in with felt
• background fabric
• 30cm or less of 9mm wide ribbon
• train button
• hot glue and glue gun

Cut out the template from my Train Pull-String Quiet Book Page Free Template Pattern.

I used a pen to copy the template onto the back of my felt (just remember to reverse it if you want the tunnel on the same side as the template). Cut out the tunnel, sew it down to the same felt, and cut it out again. 

Measure the amount of ribbon you need to circle the tunnel easily and cut and melt the edges - see my post on How to Stop Ribbons Fraying.

Lay the ends of the ribbon on top of each other beneath the train button and sew it on in place. You can sew by hand or follow the instructions in last fortnight's post for the zig zag settings on your machine. I used a little hot glue on the back of the stitching just to be sure.

Position your tunnel on your background page with the ribbon running through it. Sew down the tunnel along the top and bottom edges, leaving the inner side of the entrance and the side edge of the exit open to allow the train and ribbon to slide through.

Cut out the stone sections from your blind sample and hot glue them around the entrance to your tunnel.

Finished!

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What do you think - are you tempted to make this Easy Peasy busy book page?

Easy Peasy To the Moon and Back Quiet Book Page

Do you sometimes wonder why you went to so much effort making a quiet book page when your little one prefers the simplest page in the book? 

I think this page is suited to a child around the age of four, but older children will still have tonnes of fun with it too. They do need to be old enough for you not to worry about them wrapping the cord around their neck and choking on it if you are going to let them play with it unsupervised, however.

How to make my To The Moon and Back quiet book page:

Materials needed:

• velour in gray
• thread to contrast or match for the edges
• background fabric
• 60-100cm cord/ribbon
• rocket button
• hot glue and glue gun

Cut out the template from my To The Moon and Back Quiet Book Page Free Template Pattern.

I used a pen to copy the template onto the back of my velour fabric and sewed zig zag off the edge of the holes after they were cut out, but you could definitely do it before and then cut out the holes too. 

I sewed the cord onto the rocket button and then hot glued the loose sections at the back of the button as well, just to make sure it would stay attached and not get in the way when threading. Sew the moon onto your background fabric using zig zag stitch along the outside edge, tucking the other end of the cord under one section. Leave the craters open to allow the rocket to thread it's way in and out through there as well.

I made this version for a cheeky little girl. Her name is Jannali, which is an Australian Indigenous name meaning "the Place of the Moon". I hope she gets a lot of fun out of it and it keeps her quiet when her Mama needs a break.

I think it made a good front cover.

Join a sew along!

This page is so easy and it comes together very quickly, especially if you use a button for the rocket. We did this page one month in my Facebook Group Quiet Book Sew Along. If you want to join in the fun, join the group, go to the events tab and mark yourself as attending, print the pattern and post your progress photos in event thread. It is a great way to keep yourself motivated, and you can ask all the questions you need and get advice from other quiet book makers.

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What do you think - does it look easy peasy? 

Genesis 50 - Joseph's Bones Quiet Book Page

Genesis 50 contains Joseph's dying words where he expresses his faith that God will make good on His promise to bring Israel out of Egypt. Joseph  asks his descendants to bring his bones with them when they leave.

Memory Verse: "So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” Genesis 50:25.

Materials needed to create the Joseph's Bones quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet - I used aqua
• gold coloured material that won't fray - I used pleather but it was difficult to sew due to it's stretchiness (made easier by gluing first)
• clear craft glue if using pleather to make sewing easier - I used polyacetic acid & ethylene resin based glue
• gold trim
• gold ribbon - melt the ends to prevent fraying
• sewing thread to best match the colours
• two buttons - I found some ivory ones with black etchings that somewhat resembled hieroglyphics
• felt in gold/straw (or near enough), black, skin colour, and white/glow-in-the-dark
• glow-in-the-dark paint if using white felt
• decorative material or ribbons etc for the coffins
• white ribbon for wrapping Joseph's mummy
• my free template

Trace the sarcophagus, coffin head and death mask pieces using the template onto the back of your pleather using pen - this will avoid puncturing the pleather unnecessarily. Cut them out. Glue the front and lid of the sarcophagus to your gold/straw felt, inserting small strips of ribbon to form hinges along the top edge of the lid and loops for your buttons along the bottom edge. Make sure you make big enough loops to fit the buttons through easily. You can use pins to keep the ribbons in place if you need to but make sure it is where you will be sewing so you don't have holes where they will be visible. Leave to dry overnight.

Sew the pleather to the felt on all sides for the lid, reinforcing where the ribbons are. Only sew the top edge for the front. Cut them out ensuring you do not cut off the ribbons. Next glue the sarcophagus back to the background page, inserting the other ends of the ribbon hinges from the lid. Sew down once dried overnight. Then sew the front on the bottom and sides to form a pocket. To complete the sarcophagus, hand sew your buttons on.

Cut scraps of pleather to fit underneath the face holes of the coffin heads and death masks. Glue the death mask pieces to the gold/straw felt, layering a scrap in position under the front piece with the face hole. Leave to dry overnight, then sew down around the face hole and edges. Cut out the pieces and sew together along the top curve.

Decorate your coffin bases as desired and glue and sew on the head pieces. Sew together by the sides excluding the head or from the center of the head at the top to the center of the base at the bottom to form pockets.

I sewed the black one the first way as there was no reinforcing on the base and the other way for the blue/green coffin as it had a double layer due to the material.

I also used glue under the decorative material on this one as it is very thin material and very prone to fraying. To ensure there would be no fraying I did a tight zig zag stitch around those edges too.

For the mummy I doubled the skin coloured felt twice, inserting a wide white ribbon between the under body piece before sewing the two doubled pieces on top of each other along one straight side edge.

To make the bones I drew around the template pieces onto my white felt with a black pen and painted the glow in the dark paint on.

Glow-in-the-dark felt would make this step easier - not that it was hard, but as it is unavailable in Australia and I could not find a seller online, this was my solution. To finish, simply cut out the bones and glue them in place on the inside of the body.

Done!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate.

If you are using pleather the glue is imperative. It will be a nightmare without it as you will get bunching and/or stretching out of shape. Also, DO NOT attempt to use tape instead of glue - you will end up with the dodgy sewing featured below and have to start over.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 50 - Joseph showed his faith by instructing his descendants to take his bones with them when God brought them out of Egypt!
• Imaginative Play - wrapping and burying an Egyptian mummy is pretty fun, not to mention golw-in-the-dark bones!
• Buttoning - open and close the sarcophagus lid
• Wrapping - wrap the ribbon around the body
• Sequencing & Spatial Awareness - order the pockets the wrapped body goes into - death mask, small coffin, large coffin, sarcophagus
• Science - could incorporate a lesson about UV light and glow in the dark phenomena
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Genesis 50

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If you know of any earlier patterns or other information, I'd love to hear from you!

Devotional

There are Jewish legends about Joseph's bones that tell stories about the Israelites forgetting to take them with them when they were about to leave Egypt. The stories were written well after the fact and there are variations in the details, but basically the story goes that the pillar of cloud/fire would not move when they were all assembled ready to leave. The great-granddaughter of Levi realised that they had forgotten Joseph's bones. She was the only person old enough to remember where his body was laid. Apparently the Egyptians had sunk his coffin into the Nile River in an attempt to bless it, so Moses had to perform a miracle to get it to float so it could be retrieved. Only then did the pillar move forward to lead them out of Egypt.

Whether the story has some truth to it I don't know, but I did find it rather interesting.

You can see the monument at Joseph's burial site in this video.

Our actions follow from what we believe to be true. Joseph gave instructions about his bones fully believing that God would bring the Israelites out of Egypt. God had told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years (Genesis 15). He also brought them to Egypt to keep them safe throughout famine. That which brought blessing also brought suffering. And you can see in what Joseph says on his deathbed that he believed both that Israel would suffer in Egypt even though throughout his lifetime it had been a blessing and that God would come to their aid and bring them out of Egypt. Indeed they did need God to come to their aid to secure release from Egyptian slavery. The story of Exodus shows what great lengths God went to keep His promise. He will surely keep the remainder of His promises and bring us out of this world of suffering and into His eternal life of blessing. May our actions demonstrate our faith to our children and peers like Joseph's did.

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Which is your favourite coffin?

Psalm 127 - Unless the LORD Builds the House Quiet Book Page

In Psalm 127, Solomon notes that a lot of effort is wasted when we try to do things without God's help.

Memory Verse: "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain." Psalm 127:1

Materials needed to create Unless the LORD Builds the House quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used bright green.
• Wonderwall in a slightly smaller size than the background
• sewing thread to best match the wonderwall
• stiffened felt in various colours
• Velcro dots - hook side only
• hot glue gun and glue - optional
• the free template
• pen and scissors!

Cut out the blocks from the template and draw around each the correct number of times on the colour of stiffened felt chosen. Cut out the blocks from the stiffened felt. Cut your Velcro dots in half and attach the Velcro dot to the side of the stiffened felt block which has the pen mark on it. You may need to use a little hot glue to hold them in place, especially if your Velcro dots are a little old like some of mine were, and the sticky is not so sticky anymore.

It is difficult to see in the photos, but the white circle is actually attached with a Velcro dot to a dark blue square block. It is meant to be a clock.

Sew your Wonderwall to the background page, leaving enough room for a colourful border and to allow you to sew your pages back to back once you are ready to sew the book together.

Stick your building blocks onto the Wonderwall with the Velcro and re-arrange to make all sorts of buildings.  They should all fit on the page for storage purposes.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy, plus No Sew version.

One of the easiest quiet book pages ever!
Just use hot glue wherever sewing is recommended for a no sew version.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 6 - This page tells about how much God works behind the scenes - we often forget that it is actually Him keeping our cities and country safe, and helping us to build our lives
• Shapes - Learn the shapes square, circle, semi-circle, arch, rectangle, pillar, and triangle
• Touch and Feel - The Wonderwall adds a rough texture to the page
• Imaginative Play - Build endless combinations of houses, city gates, and walls, etc
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Psalm 127

Devotional

Solomon wrote this Psalm. I'm not sure that this is what he was talking about, but I found it a little fitting because he was the one God selected to build His house - the Temple. David had been busy making plans to build a temple, but God told him "No". I guess David knew better than to argue with God, because it seems he accepted that without complaint. He did all he could so it was ready for Solomon though, gathering supplies and drawing up plans.

Like I mentioned in my last devotional for Luke 12 - Where is Your Treasure Quiet Book Page, no-one can be an expert on everything, and if you want your plans to succeed, it is best to ask for help. God's help is the greatest help, and He can find you the right people to provide you with help too. If God has decreed something is not going to succeed, it ain't gonna, so don't waste your efforts.

Once again, we can't rely on own own efforts to build a good life and to keep ourselves safe. That's God's job, and that's great for us, because otherwise how could we go to sleep at night? But He is always there keeping watch and helping if we ask Him to.

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Are you letting the LORD build your house?