Quiet Book, page 4 {bugs on leaves}

Do you ever feel like a year has gotten away from you? That's how my year has been...busy, busy, busy {I guess that's what I should expect with 5 kids...right?} and it has FLOWN by.  In all that craziness I completely forgot about pages 4, 5 & 6....oops! So here is page 4 of my quiet book for you "bugs on leaves".  It's another quick and easy design (the best kind).  It's more of a look, touch & feel page.  Younger kids will like the sensory aspect of just the different textures of the felt leaves and pompom bugs.  As they get a little older they can begin to count the bugs, name the colors, or match the colored bugs (try connecting them by drawing a line with a piece of yarn or string).

Here's what you need:

1 piece of felt for the background, cut to 8 1/2 x 11 inches, I used bright blue

Green felt in two shades

1/2 inch colorful pompoms, I chose more "autumn colored" pompoms

Sewing machine + thread

Embroidery floss + needle

Scissors

1. Cut out your leaves.  I know I say this a lot, but just free-hand it--you can do it!.  If it makes it easier, cut out a paper template first.  Make a large (about 9 x 5 inches) "football"...pointed oval shape, then just cut some notches out of the side to give it a more tropical leaf feel.

2. Arrange the leaves on the background, then pin in place.  Using a sewing machine, stitch the leaves onto the background, adding details for the leaf veins as you like (see pictures).

3. Arrange & hand stitch your pompoms in place using the embroidery floss.  Just knot your thread and sew through the background/leaves, into the pompoms and back down a few times to make sure they are extra secure.  Your stitching shouldn't show too much through the fluffy pompoms.  Add a few straight stitches around each bug's body for legs (see picture below). Repeat with remaining pompoms.  I added 5 pompoms to each leaf, one of each color.

And that's it.  Super quick and easy.  Enjoy!

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Page 1: Lion

Page 2: Snakes

Page 3: Hidden Flowers

Page 5: Tropical Fish {coming soon!}

Page 6: Coconut Tree {coming soon!}

Quiet Book, Page 3 {hidden flowers}

This is long, long overdue, but here is page three of my felt quiet book that I made for my now 2 1/2 year old.   Ollie still loves it & plays with it often.  Remember pages one & two?  This one is just as easy, but a has a little more detail work. This page will focus on counting & colors for the "older" kids and a is fun peak-a-boo game for toddlers.

You will need:

1- 8.5 x 11 inch rectangle of felt {for the background, I used gray}

green felt

colorful felt scraps for flowers

embroidery floss

sewing machine & colorful thread

1. Cut out 3 bushes and 3 tufts of grass out of green felt.  Either free hand the design, or make a simple pattern out of paper before you cut your felt {see pictures for ideas}.

2. Arrange your bushes and tufts of grass on the background felt rectangle.  Pin in place.

3.  Using your sewing machine, stitch each on.  Be sure to leave the bushes free at the top so that they can fold down to reveal the flowers.  I stitched all the way across the page twice along the bottom of each bush.  Then across the page and along the bottom of each tuft of grass and then again across the page and along the tops of the tufts of grass {see pictures for details}.  Be sure that you stitch UNDER the bushes so that they remain free.

4. Next cut out your flowers from the scraps of colorful felt.  I just cut out circles and notched them to look like petals. You will need 6 flowers. {flower centers are attached later on}

5.  Arrange the flowers; 1 behind the top bush, 2 behind the middle, 3 behind the bottom bush.  Pin in place.  Using a fabric marker, mark where you would like the stems and leaves stitched (or just free hand).  Using the machine stitch the flower stem and leaves, then stitch on the flower.  Repeat with  the remaining flowers.  I stitched them on by just sewing across them a few times, or around them in a decorative way.  You can do this however you like, or even hand stitch them on if you prefer.

6. Attach any flower centers with a few french knots, repeat with the remaining flowers. Now you're ready to add this page to your quiet book...more on that later.

Page 1: Lion

Page 2: Snakes

Page 4: Bugs on Leaves 

Page 5: Tropical Fish {coming soon}

Page 6: Coconut Trees {coming soon}