Alternative to Plastic Toys? Felt Board Stories

There are many parents and caregivers who have chosen to not have or avoid plastic toys for their children. The reasons vary. For some, it is based on a principle to live a more sustainable lifestyle, to others it is a desire to have material that is more durable and long lasting and still some think that plastic and babies/toddlers should not be combined for safety/health reasons. Regardless of the reason, the goal can be challenging. Moreover, let's face it, the plastic toys are often easier on the wallet. Often the main alternative is wooden toys.

Felt Material is a Great Alternative to Plastic

Another great choice are felt board activities and stories. Felt board stories are not difficult to make by hand. In addition, there are many sites online where they can be purchased, including this one :) Furthermore, there are many ways to create felt boards.

 

Developmental Benefits to Felt Board Stories and Activities

Aside from the fact that felt material is durable, long lasting and soft to handle, playing with felts provides an open ended process fostering creativity and imagination within a child. Felt pieces promote language development and of course, storytelling whatever the form is a wonderful gift for children.

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Pete the Cat Felt Board Story

Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin is becoming a popular story among young children. I recently made this
felt story for the preschool and I am really happy with the results.I like how the felt cat can be used
for two books: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes as well as Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy
Buttons. I always start with a template on fairly thick paper. It was a little tricky to cut the curvy tail:)

Further reading suggestion:

Basic Instructions for Making a Felt Board Story

                                            

Button Preschool Theme

The important part of this felt story is to make up your tune or follow the creators themselves:

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Out in the Garden: Felt Board Poem for May

This is a wonderful felt set to sing with the following song, to the tune of Down By the Station

Out in the garden in the month of May
See the pretty flowers standing in a row
See the little birds flying down to greet them
Tweet tweet tweet and off they go.

Sing the same words and replace with

See the little bees...buzz, buzz, buzz
See the little butterflies...flutter, flutter, flutter


For an extension to this song, children can act out the song! In addition, it works well for circle time transitions.

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear Felt Board Story

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was written and illustrated by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle and published in 1967.  The book is designed to help toddlers associate colors and meanings to objects and has been enjoyed by readers around the world for years. Young children are so attracted to the  bright images and repetitive verse which allows them to quickly join in with the telling of the story. This classic book turns well into a felt board story!

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Matching Easter Eggs Felt Board Activity

As Easter is around the corner, creating activities for young children whether for home or an early childhood setting does not have to be complicated. These matching felt eggs can be used on a flannel board or any piece of felt for children to enjoy. Matching allows young children to recognize colors and design. An option for this activity is to make different sizes and then provide opportunities for children to label or find the egg according to the request, for instance, "find me the biggest blue egg or find me the smallest green egg".


Sung to the tune of I’m a Little Teapot

I’m an Easter Egg, just look at me

I’m as happy as I can be

I have lots of colors, no longer white

With polka dots, I’m such a sight!

The Rainbow Fish Felt Board Story

This is my newest version, but the Rainbow Fish was one of the first felt stories I made as an Early  Childhood Educator, actually I made it for a practicum assignment. I have told the story so many times, and all ages enjoy it! I place some scotch tape behind the sparkly scales so they can be moved onto the other fish and then at the end of the story replaced back. The technique lasts for a long time!

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Christmas Felt Board Poem

When I was working as a preschool teacher, my co-worker gave me a home made gift of felt pieces and a poem with all the staff's name inside. I thought it was so adorable, that I borrowed her idea.  Here is one of my versions.

 

 

 

FIVE CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Five Christmas Cookies with icing galore
Jenny ate the Christmas wreath
And now there are four.
Four Christmas cookies, sitting close to me.
Joey ate the star shaped one
And now there are three.
Three Christmas cookies, staring back at you.
Sally ate the red stocking
And now there are two.
Two Christmas cookies, one who likes to run.
Freddy ate that gingerbread
And now there is one.
One cookie left, let’s go to the store
And buy more ingredients
So we can bake some more.