DIY: A Simple, Inexpensive Felt Board for Toddlers

In anticipation of my daughter’s first year of preschool this fall, I began looking for an activity I could do with her that would wind down the chaos of summer, and ease her into a classroom state of mind.

I was hoping for something that would keep her engaged for longer than five minutes, that would help her learn, and of course something that was fun for the both of us. As I dug through my craft supplies, it hit me – a felt board!

 Here’s what you’ll need:
• A large piece of cardboard (I used an empty diaper box).
• Glue gun
• Colourful pieces of felt
• Scissors
• Hook and loop fastener strips (aka VELCRO® strips)
• Felt pens, sparkles, pipe cleaners, googley eyes, or anything else you can think of that would add pizazz to your board.


How to make it:

Step 1:
Fold your cardboard into a pyramid shape. For this, I just cut the flaps off of an empty diaper box and folded it over. Glue at the seam to ensure stability.

Step 2:
Using a glue gun, cover the cardboard with felt to make a nice, flat backdrop. I used black because it was a neutral colour that would highlight the bright colours we picked out, and because it was also the same colour as the hook and loop fastener strips, so they would be less noticeable.

Step 3: 
Cut the hook and loop fastener strips into small pieces and glue them all over the board.

Step 4:
Cut shapes, numbers and funny faces out of an assortment of brightly coloured pieces of felt. My daughter loved giving me the ideas for these.

Step 5: 
That’s it! Have fun making whimsical scenes on your new felt board.

Tip: Keep things fresh throughout the year with new themes that celebrate and teach your little one about upcoming seasons and special holidays. There’s no limit to what you can create!

Angela Robertson: When she's not spinning records for her two-year-old daughter and one-year-old son, she's busy writing about them on my blog Rock ’n’ Rattle. For the past several years she worked as communications writer, but recently decided to stay home with her kids and work as a freelance writer. That is, if she can ever get the songs from Disney’s Frozen out of her head.