2014 has been a great year! Bean turned 4 in January (she'll be 5 next month!) and Munchkin turned 3 in August. We had a lovely year playing, crafting and learning together. I definitely devoted more time to making felt crafts, which my kids and our readers love! I also began writing reviews for the TOS Crew and Safari Ltd. - expect more from both this year! I also became an Independent Consultant for Usborne Books and More (check out our Online Store for awesome books!) and opened an Etsy store to sell our felt crafts. So if you ever see something on the blog and want it, contact us on Etsy and we'll create a custom order for you! We will also continue our Game of the Month series now that the crazy holiday season is over. In January we will be featuring eeBoo's Preschool Lotto Game
! My top goal for 2014 is to make printables available for our felt crafts! (Hopefully this can be accomplished sooner, rather than later! Wish us luck!)Here are our Most Popular Posts of 2014! And four honorable mentions, to round us out to 14! You'll notice that the majority of our popular posts are felt related... I guess I know what to focus on this year! So be on the look-out for more felt crafts this year, because there will be so many more to come!
Tetris-Inspired Felt Board - These Tetris pieces are simple to make and you can even use your collection of scrap felt! We love to use them for math and puzzle activities. They are great to take along on car rides, just bring a tray and a piece of felt to play with them on.
Here's a decent printable to make your own (scroll down to near the bottom, click on Tetris Designs - the first page has color Tetris pieces and the second page has blank Tetris pieces).
Felt Cookies - Felt cookies are so fun to make! Ok, I admit I am a nerd and I love to craft and hand sew, so yes, I do enjoy making them. But these were one of my favorite crafts to make this year, and now I make them as gifts for cousins and friends' children. They are great for pretend play activities and you can make them in all shapes and sizes. Design them anyway you like - chocolate or peanut butter, sugar cookie, frosted, etc. You can even add little stitches or beads for sprinkles. They are adorable! And also make really great color matching manipulatives for toddlers!
Felt Alphabet Bean Bags (lowercase) - I loved making these bean bags and I knew immediately that they were going to be used often. They are great for sensory play, and make spelling and reading activities more fun and relaxing.
Moon Phases Felt Board - At the start of last year, I began making more themed felt boards and incorporated them into our homeschool lessons. This felt board was really simple to make and was a great hands-on tool to learn about the phases of the moon.
DIY Train Table Play Mat - Roads - We love our train table, but sometimes we like to find new ways to play with it. That's why one day I covered the table in green felt and created some roads for it. The kids have been able to find more uses for the train table. Sadly I haven't gotten around to posting about the other train table pieces I have made since then. I made mountains, farm land, a camp site and lake/river area. Look forward to seeing it soon!
Solar System Felt Board - This is one of our favorite felt boards and we still use for space themed activities. It's fun to name the planets and order them. It can also be used in play scenes.
Frozen Sensory Small World Play - Easily a super fun activity for winter days. We can't wait to set one up tomorrow, now that we finally have some snow on the ground. All you need are some toys (we used a Frozen play set), a sensory bin and some snow. You could also use a snow-alternative.
How to Make a Felt Teepee - Here's a simple craft to help learn about Native American history. You can also use them in themed small worlds using Safari Ltd's Powhatan Indians TOOB
.
Apple Picking Math Felt Board - Here is a super fun preschool math activity that helps to practice counting. It is a great way to create a game of learning addition and subtraction.
Honorable Mentions
Here are a few additional activities that were popular on the blog this year, but especially at home.
DIY Felt Sewing Shapes - Bean loves sitting and crafting with me, so I created a few hands-on learning tools that will help her practice sewing and stitching. These colorful felt shapes were made using a Mr. Printables pattern.
Marvel Characters Felt Board Pieces - Bean has about 200 Marvel felt board pieces (yeah, being a crazy, nerdy mom, I made a ton). There are plenty of characters to create unique stories and go on superhero adventures in Marvel City.
Little Blue Truck Felt Board - While Bean loves the Marvel characters, Munchkin adores his set of Little Blue Truck felt board pieces. He adores this book and has so much fun playing with the characters and creating his own unique stories. Great for storytelling activities and you can use the same process with basically any sticker.
Felt Uppercase Letter Bean Bags - We made uppercase letters (and numbers) to go with our lowercase letters. They are great for toddlers and preschoolers. You can use them as sensory manipulatives that promote literacy skills. You can practice ordering and spelling. You can also practice writing by tracing the letters with your finger.
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