How to Make a Felt Board

I recently had the opportunity to visit a recycle shop in Melbourne and came away with two treasures.

Just before we were about to leave with nothing, I quickly checked down the last isle, saying to my sister "Just in case I find a massive roll of blue felt". God is certainly blessing this little project of mine, and as those last words came out of my mouth, my eyes rested on... a massive roll of blue felt. Felt is rather expensive, and I have a feeling this roll is wool felt, which is even more expensive. It is good quality anyway, although slightly dusty on the ends. And blue is strangely a difficult colour to find, and I tend to need it a lot. There are only so many other colours you can use for the sky!

I have been wondering what to do with a picture frame that has had the glass broken when we moved, and now I know...

I present our 60x80cm [24"x 32"] felt board.

Blue is an ideal colour for a felt board as it can easily represent sky and water. Simply lay a piece of green felt over the lower portion to represent the ground, and cut away portions where you would like water to appear.  See the example below from the Betty Lukens website, where you can buy many Biblical and non-biblical felt boards and felt board play sets.

Image Source

Materials needed to make a felt board:

• a large picture frame with glass removed
• a piece of felt large enough to cover the back board of the picture frame
• double sided tape or contact

Take the back board out of the frame.

Lay the double sided tape in rows across the board and peel the back off it, or use double sided contact. I recommend a smaller gap between the tape than I did as I did get a few bubbles.

Roll your length of felt up so that you can unroll it onto your board to minimise bunching. Trim the edges to the size of the back board after it has been attached to avoid issues with lining them up. Last, put your board back into the frame and secure it.

Done!

When playing, simply lean it against the wall. You can also use wheat bags to ensure it doesn't slip down, especially if you have floor boards or tiles rather than carpet. They can become hills or rivers or anything else you can imagine. We made a beach scene with rocks and the ocean.

I found a couple of bags of felt board pieces at an opp shop!

Since it is a picture frame, it can be hung on the wall for storage (with a new picture whenever you like).

Check out the Menorah Felt Board Play Set we made for Hanukkah.

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What kind of scene would you like to make for a felt board?

Genesis 28 - Jacob's Ladder Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 28, God appears to Jacob in a dream at the top of a ladder stretching from Heaven to Earth, upon which angels are ascending and descending, and promises to bless him.

Memory verse: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15.

Materials needed to create the Jacob's Ladder quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet in a dark colour. I used navy.
• felt scraps, in skin colour, grey, dark brown, mid brown, and red
• 36 angel beads, make sure the hole goes through them horizontally not vertically - I used these, you could also use these (not affiliate links)
• yellow or gold ribbon/s
• sewing thread to match each colour of ribbon and felt
• a sleeping Jacob template - I used this colouring page from azcolouing.com

Cut out the template as a complete Jacob and position it at the bottom of your sheet of felt. Cut two lengths of your ladder side ribbons and burn the ends so they do not fray. Position them so the ends will be underneath the template of Jacob and run off the upper edge of the page. You can tuck them in when you sew the pages back to back to make a book. Pin the ribbons in place temporarily. Cut eight lengths of your rung ribbons to fit the width of the ladder and burn the ends so they do not fray. String on your angel beads, one on the highest rung ribbon, two on the second and so forth until you have eight on the lowest ribbon. Pin the ribbons so they are evenly spaced and the ends will lie underneath the ladder side ribbons. You can remove the ladder side ribbons, then sew down the rung ribbon ends. Re-position your side ribbons and sew in place.

Cut out each section of Jacob to use as a pattern out of a new template (you will have to print it out about 3 times):

1. torso, adding a small allowance along the edges that will be covered by his blanket, arm and face
2. blanket
3. face, adding a small allowance to what will be covered by his hair and the rock
4. hair, forget about the ear, just make his hair follow it's course had their been no ear sticking out, add a small allowance for what will be covered by the rock
5. rock
6. arm

Sew each piece down in the order listed above, matching your threads to your chosen colours. Use the complete Jacob template to make it easier to line up the pieces. 

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

This page is rather easy, but things can go wrong, particularly when sewing down the ribbons which house the angel beads. Try to get it tight so the angel beads don't hang down, but sit straight on the page.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 28 - This page tells the story of Jacob's ladder, where God appeared to Jacob in a dream and reassured him that the promises of land and descendants given to Abraham and Issac would be fulfilled through his line
• Counting - count the angel beads
• Directions - up, down, left, right - flip the angels so they are ascending or descending the ladder, and move the angels left or right across the ribbon
• Gematria - the meaning of the number eight in scripture. See the devotional section below
• Angels - there are different types of angels - archangels, seraphim, cherubim, guardian, 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

Genesis 28

Devotional

In the previous chapter of Genesis, Jacob has just stolen his brother's blessing, not to be confused with his brother's birthright which he willingly sold to Jacob in Genesis 25. He now has to run for fear of his life. His father sends him to his mother's family in search of a Godly wife, and on the way, Jacob has this dream. I assume Jacob was feeling rather guilty and unworthy of the blessing he has just stolen, and God takes pity on him and reassures him that he is the one who will fulfill His purposes.

I have a feeling that Jacob desired to be chosen by God so badly that he was willing to steal to get it. I can relate to this because I wanted to be baptized so badly that I was willing to lie in order to have it happen. I do not fully agree with all the tenets of my denomination, but I said I did in order to get baptized. Looking back, I can see many ways to get around this issue, and indeed, you no longer need to pledge all these things prior to baptism. But I can definitely relate to Jacob's situation here, and I guess it is encouraging to see God's response!

I chose to have eight rungs on the ladder. The number eight in scripture has to do with new beginnings, and I suppose that is just what Jacob is getting here. Also, the gematria of Jesus is 888. I am not talking about numerology, but numbers in scripture can deepen your understanding of the plain text. Of course, it can be taken too far... You can read about the relationship of Hebrew and Greek letters and words to their numeric values (similar to Roman numerals) in this brief article on gematria by Matt Slick on the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry website.

As I mentioned earlier, the ladder represents Jesus (John 1:50-51), and I will refer you to this very short but very good explanation by LaVista Church of Christ.

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Have you met Jesus in your dreams?

Easy Peasy Lei Flower Quiet Book Page

I am always trying to think of ways to make quick and easy quiet book pages that are tons of fun and look terrific, especially when making presents.

Here is an idea I came up with last night, that I think fits all of those requirements!

Here is how to make an artificial lei flower quiet book page:

Instead of having to cut out felt flowers and sew them all together, simply layer two artificial lei flowers on top of a piece of felt (to add stability) and sew a buttonhole to fit three buttons.  Make sure they are roughly the same size so the flowers are interchangeable. Cut the buttonhole open with a seam ripper.

Then trim the felt at the back.

Next, burn the ends of two ribbons and a piece of rik rak to prevent fraying, and sew them down for the flower stems. Then sew on your buttons at the top of each stem.

Done!

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Buttonholes - practice how to button a buttonhole.
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skills through turning pages, and on this page, through buttoning.

Difficulty Level = Easy

This page was so easy that it came together very quickly whilst I was watching a movie with my husband last night. It requires very little sewing skills.

Having said that, I did have a lot of trouble working out my one step buttonhole function on my current sewing machine.  The manual it came with was for another model, which had a four step buttonhole function... Even after watching countless You Tube videos on how to do it, I still couldn't get it to work and had to call the company support line for help!

Here are the steps and settings I used for the one step buttonhole in case you have trouble, and also as a record for me in case I forget again next time:

1. Set your stitch length to just under '1', or a very low setting equivalent on your machine. Apparently the 'F' setting on my machine is for stretch stitches.
2. Set your stitch tension to around '4' or '5', or the normal mid-level setting equivalent on your machine.
3. Turn the dial until you have selected the buttonhole function on the stitch selections.
4. Change your normal foot to the buttonhole foot and insert your button into the measuring section at the back.
5. Pull down the buttonhole lever. Remember to push it to the back position so it clicks forward when it reaches the end of the buttonhole and begins to do the other side, as it clearly instructs you to do on the lever itself (the one vital step I forgot lol).

Use up your Leftover Lei Flowers:

How to make a Lei Flower Baby Doll Dress

Here's some more of my 8"x8" material pages:

The Easy Peasy Pocket Quiet Book Page for an 8x8 material quiet book.

Puzzle Quiet Book Page Swap.

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What do you think - does it look easy peasy? 

Genesis 15 - Abraham can you count the stars? Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 15, God promises Abraham that his decedents will be like the stars in number - uncountable!  I tried to make the stars on this quiet book page uncountable too.

Memory verse: "He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:5,6.

Materials needed to create the Abraham can you count the stars? quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet in a dark colour. I used black.
• star die-cut felt sheet in blue - available from Spotlight stores or Arbee online.
• multi-coloured star buttons in mixed colours - as many as you can get your hands on
• sewing thread
• a star template - I used this star template from smallpersonalbiz.com

Choose a few star sizes and shapes from the template. Make sure to include the six-pointed star of David, because both David and our Messiah, Jesus, were Abraham's descendents. Cut them out of the star die-cut felt and arrange them on the page. Sew them down.

Arrange the star buttons on the page. I used pins through the holes in the buttons to anchor them where I wanted them. Sew them on. I set my sewing machine to a stitch length of zero and put it on the zig zag setting. Then I adjusted the stitch width until it was the right size to fit my buttons. I found it much quicker to sew them on like this rather than by hand, which would have taken ages. For newer sewing machines, you can buy a button foot especially for this purpose.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy

This page is rather easy, and although it may seem fairly non-interactive, it is! 

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 15 - This page is supposed to illustrate the difficulty in counting the stars, just as God wanted to assure Abraham that it would be that difficult to count his promised future offspring. Also, believing God is counted as righteousness!
• Counting - Younger children can count the star buttons. The die-cut stars make the page more difficult as the child grows. And because some of the die-cut stars get cut in half when cutting the felt into star shapes, it makes it really hard to count the number of stars accurately. Also, many of them are hidden behind the star buttons. 
• Star shapes - stars shapes can have different numbers of points
• Colours and star colours - make sure you use different coloured star buttons for this learning area. Stars are also classified by colour, which is related to their temperature. Find a chart and some other star classification activities for the older child here on hmxearthscience.com.
• 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 15

Devotional

The covenant ceremony described in this chapter that takes place between God and Abraham was a very common ceremony used in the middle east back then to "cut" a covenant. Both parties were supposed to walk in the blood between the animals.  However, God did not ask Abraham to walk, and instead walked twice Himself. If you can't guess, this is a foreshadow of the cross and how Jesus would pay the price in His own blood for our side of the covenant that we couldn't keep.  For an excellent and brief explanation, read my fellow bloggers post Walking the Bloodpath by Marty Solomon from Covered In His Dust.

Also in this chapter, God predicts that Abraham's decedents would be so-journers and slaves for four hundred years in a foreign county (Egypt) after which time, they would be given the land God promised to Abraham. Genesis 15 helps set the scene for the next book in the Bible, Exodus.

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Which star represents you?

Genesis Teaser

Here is a teaser of the title page for the Genesis quiet book...

It was my aim to get the whole book done this last year.  Having to move house has ensured this goal has failed, but, I did put the time my sewing machine was not set up to good use, and started this blog.  So I guess it was to your advantage, as you might not get to see any of it otherwise!!

Ironically, Genesis is a good place to start!

Read more about my Bible Quiet Book Project here.

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How long do you think it will take me to finish Genesis?