The Bunny Book

I have a little obsession with quiet books.  I love looking at ideas around the web, and I love creating my own books.  When I taught, one of my favorite activities was making paper books with my kindergarteners.  We made several versions of positional word books for different seasons/holidays.  We had spider stickers to place on fall items, a pilgrim hunting for a turkey, etc.  They loved being able to manipulate a character through the book to practice positional concepts (above, below, on, right, left, etc.), and enjoyed reading the simple text on the pages.  I simply took this idea, and translated it into a more durable felt and fabric book.  As soon as I finished it, my boys eagerly took turns helping the bunny hop through the pages.   This was so fun and simple to put together, I may be working on some more in the near future.  So, here it is, "The Bunny Hops..."

 

So now I have a question for you, dear readers.  Is this something that you are interested in putting together yourself?  Would you like a tutorial?  I have been debating on whether to turn this little passion of mine into a small business.  Should I sell patterns, set up quiet book making classes (this one would only apply if you live close by...), sell the finished products?  I guess I'm not a big risk taker, so I'd like to get some advice before jumping into something like this.  Oh, and if you decide to make one, I'd love so see your results! Feel free to use my ideas, for personal use only.  Thanks!

Linking to:

Highway Letters

Here's my handmade gift for Mr. One's birthday.  He had often complains that I never make quiet books for him, so here's my big boy version of a quiet book.  (Although I forsee this being a not-so-quiet book with the car racing noises that must go on while using it...)

I found the template and idea here at Making Learning Fun.  If you're interested in this project, make sure to see the Dr. Jean link about how to extend the use of these cards.

Basically, you print out the letters on black cardstock, cut and glue them onto another piece of cardstock.  (They also have a version you can print on white paper, but that used too much ink for my liking.)  I laminated them for durability and hole punched them on the top, and bound the book with two 1 1/2" binder rings.  That way you can still pull the letters out of order and make words to practice if you don't want to keep it in book form.  I changed it just slightly by using white out correcting tape to mark the road lines to make them stand out better.  (The yellow ink road lines don't really show up on the black construction paper.)

He is going to love "driving" along the letters and I'm secretly hoping to get some good letter formation practice out of him!

If you have a car lover in your house, go and make a set for your home, too!

The Quiet Book

This is the big project I have been working on for several months now. I have been so close to finishing, and so I set a deadline: Easter. I gave it to Ben for Easter because I couldn't bear to keep it from him a minute longer. I started surfing the 'net, looking in Etsy shops and online for ideas/inspiration/tutorials to make a toddler quiet book of my own. Although there were some cute ideas out there, there wasn't one that I really loved. Then I thought, hey, I can just make my own. Being the nerdy teacher I am, I wanted it to have some educational value. Being poor, I needed to make it with cheap or on-hand materials. Being a girl, I needed it to be a little cute, even if it was for a boy. I have to say, this is the project I am most proud of to date. I hope you enjoy it. Ben seems to love it, too, so I couldn't be happier.
The cover. I used some cute patterned flannel for the cover and back. I sandwiched a piece of felt between the flannel to give it a little heft. I bound it with o-rings and tied some coordinating ribbon on the rings.
The dino has taggie spikes along his back.The foam wheels are attached with brads, so the wheels turn.A sweater to button up.Vinyl fish bowl has four felt fish to put inside.Pond is a zippered pocket to pull the ducks out of.Plane flies up and down on page.Each egg has a different animal that hatches from an egg inside.Eight ric rac legs that wiggle.Each barn door has a button farm animal behind it.The scoops snap onto the page, so you can sort them by flavor or make a pattern.