First set of felt board pieces
Felt Board Pieces Project
With a couple unexpected days off I decided to work on a project I have been meaning to do. I am creating new felt board pieces for my classroom.
I came upon a blog post about using freezer paper to assist creation and finally managed to purchase some at the local Walmart.
There are some templates available at various blogs online for felt board pieces, but I decided to instead utilize some clip art from Bunny on a Cloud so that I could make larger pieces than I was seeing in templates.
Supplies Needed for Felt Board Pieces
Here is what I use to create these pieces, along with some affiliate links to give you more details about the supplies.
Felt
I purchased felt sheets at Michaels on holiday clearance. This felt is the stiffer variety. I picked up a fall one, a Christmas and a winter one, which gave me most of the colors I might need. I will be watching their holiday craft clearance for more.
Freezer paper
I pick this up at Walmart. This is not wax paper or parchment paper. This has wax on one side only. Check out this post for more information about how to use the freezer paper.
Sharp scissors
Iron
Once you print onto the freezer paper you will iron it onto the felt sheets. You can use each piece from the freezer paper two or three times before it stops sticking.
Fabric glue
I think I picked this up at a craft store but I have also seen small bottles at the local Dollar Tree recently.
Puffy paint
I use puffy paint for details like the eyes on the ducks and the blue windows on the rocket ship.
Templates or Clip Art
There are some available templates online, but many of them appear to be small, with many pieces on a single sheet of paper. I decided instead to use clip art I have purchased from Bunny on a Cloud to make my pieces. This way I can make the pieces as large as I would like.
Iron and cut
Hints for choosing templates or clip art and printing on wax paper
When you look at possible templates or clip art you want simple lines without too many color changes and parts. The rocket I made had the most changes, some of which I drew on with puffy paint.
I use Adobe InDesign to get my clip art ready to print, but you can import clip art into many programs that you have on your own computer, including PowerPoint and word processing programs.
To use the wax paper, I cut it into 8.5 x 11 inch pieces and flatten them before attempting to print.
Pay attention to which way you need to insert your paper. For the copier at work I need to lay the wax paper in wax side up and choose glossy paper for it to successfully make it through without a jam. Your goal is to print on the non-wax side.
Rocket and Duck
Creating Multi-Color Felt Board Pieces
For the rocket I first cut the entire shape from red for the base. I then cut apart the template to iron it onto other colors to layer. For the windows I chose to use puffy paint because I did not want more than two layers of felt.
For the duck I cut the entire duck from yellow and then cut out the wing and bill pieces to make those parts to add for details. The eyes are puffy paint.
Looking for Freebies?
Check out my Freebies for PreK Teachers page for lesson plans and activities to help you in your classroom.
