Let's Skate on the Ice (with how-to's)

It occurred to me there might be some of you just starting your flannelboard collections and I thought I would share a few of the tricks I've learned over the years in making a LOT of flannelboard sets.  I made a new set of  colorful ice skates to use this week at storytime with a Mitten/Ice Skate theme. I couldn't find any ice skate rhymes in a quick search and for me it's easier to make one up than to spend very long researching. So here's the link to my new rhyme Colorful Ice Skates. And here's how I made them:

I found a Google image that looked fairly simple and I traced it and cut it apart into my pattern. I marked on the pattern pieces the color and which is the top and where to apply glue.  Be sure to add a little extra space as you are cutting at the point that you will be gluing the pieces together.

Since I was making pairs of ice skates, I stacked two pieces of felt and cut two at a time of each shape. I hold the two pieces together with clothespins or pins or staples (they come out and don't leave holes).  For single small pieces I tape the pattern to the felt. I do it this way because I don't like to trace onto the felt. As you can see, I save and use scraps for small pieces for my sets.  I try to keep my scraps sorted by color in ziplock bags. (I hate to cut a small piece from a whole sheet of felt.)

I like to cut all my pieces and do all of my gluing at one go so that the pieces can dry overnight or for about 8 hours before I move onto the next stage of construction.

Time for fabric paint and glitter glue! Ha! You know I couldn't make these without glitter somewhere!  I made my own glitter glue by adding silver and iridescent glitter to white glue in two small bottles of glue. Some of the skates got the silver and some got the iridescent glue.  I usually let the fabric paint and glitter glue dry about 8 hours or overnight. After they were dry I cut small slits for the laces at the dots that I marked on my pattern.

I used a large needle and twine for my laces and starting at the bottom laced up to the top of the skate.

Back of the skate

 I glued the ends to the back and glued a pretied bow at the top of the ice skates.

Voila !!     An extreme amount of cuteness! LOL!!

After using these this week, I think I'll add one more step and cut out a second boot shape to glue to the back. I want to cover the ends of the lacing and make the skates sturdy enough for the children to handle for a matching game. Hope some of these tips help you make your next felt set!   Ice skates are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!!  Enjoy other great posts for the week at the Flannel Friday Roundup here.

ABC Caterpillar

We have incorporated the 5 components of ECRR in our storytimes at my library and so we have increased the emphasis on recognizing the alphabet symbols as well as their sounds.  I recently made my own set of an adorable alphabet caterpillar to use with all ages of our preschool kiddos. The original idea came from Shelley Lovett at childcareland.com. She has an awesome site!  I made my set as a color pattern and alphabet set so I could turn them over and use just the color side with the toddlers. I talk about the alphabet and put up the caterpillar face and have the kiddos bring up the letters to add to the board as we all say the alphabet together.  It's a big hit! I used a diecut to make about 2 inch circles and a 1&1/2 inch letter diecut for the alphabet. You can see the color pattern in the circles and the letters. The face of the caterpillar has felt eyelashes and mouth, google eyes and a tiny pom pom nose and pipe cleaner antennae. I used a lot of tacky glue!!  I don't let the kiddos play with this set after storytime.  At least not yet...I won't let them play with the face because of the small pieces that could be picked off and eaten! LOL!

Talking, Singing, Writing, Reading and Playing ... is a lot of  
Fun with Friends at Storytime!