I’m a huge fan of quiet learning time! Since I’m a freelance writer, we call this time Family Writing Time. Everyone works on something quietly, and I get some of my freelancing tasks crossed off.
It’s important for kids to learn to sit and play and learn quietly. I truly believe this time helps promote learning, creativity, and confidence.
Last year, we added a new activity to our Quiet Learning Time. They’ve continued to be a big hit with the younger kids (my 6 year old on down to the 3 year old!)
Felt Board Folders
I had the kids help create our felt board folders. They meet all my criteria for our family writing time. They’re:
- Designed for independence
- Quiet
- Allow for creativity
- Encourage story telling or other additional engagment
- Inexpensive to create
- Easy to store
- Fun for the kids
Ready to make your own felt board folders? You’ll need:
Materials:
- A variety of felt (I picked up a couple packs at Wal-Mart for less than $3 each.)
- A pocket folder for each
- Scissors
- Adhesive to attach a main piece of felt to the folder (I bought a pack of felt with adhesive backs…glue would probably work too!)
Procedure:
First, decide what type of felt folder you’d like to create. We made:
- A dress-up girl
- A snowman
- A vegetable head
We have a few others in mind, but haven’t created those yet.
Next, cut out the base shape for your folder. In our case, we cut out a snowman, a large potato shape, and a girl.
You want these to be sized to fit nicely onto the inside of your pocket folder, and large enough for the kids to play with. Once cut, adhere onto the inside of a pocket folder.
Here’s a picture of one of my kids cutting out the snowman for her folder.
Now, cut out accessories. The sky is the limit! We had noses, scarves, skirts, bows, arms, and much more. Let the kids use their imagination and create whatever they’d like.
For my younger kids, I sized the felt for them first. I’d cut a small square out after they told me what they wanted to make, and then let them draw it and cut. That way the object fit pretty well.
Store everything in the pocket when you’re done.
Now your felt board folders are ready to store. I just keep them in with our school stuff, and the kids can pull them out when they’re ready to play.
To Play with Felt Board Folders
Have you child select a folder to play with. Then, have them pull out all the small pieces and set them out.
As they place the small pieces on the main shape, the felt will stick to itself. It’s a lot of fun!
To Encourage Additional Play:
To encourage additional play and learning with felt board folders, challenge your child to:
- Draw a picture of their favorite combination of pieces
- Create a story about where their character is going
- Meet up with another folder and mix and match pieces
- Count the pieces
- Make additional pieces from left over felt
- Draw a background on a piece of paper that goes with the character
Have you ever made felt board folders? Give it a try if you haven’t–they’re easy, inexpensive, and fun!
This post was originally published on my Tanner Learning blog. I’m in the process of shutting that one down and moving all the posts over here. 😀
