Amazing Felt Pieces for Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Pete the Cat

I was fortunate to see first hand, with one of my students...one of my adult students, the creation of these amazing felt pieces for the Children's classics: Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See and Pete the Cat. I asked Nam I Koo if I could post on my blog, and she smiled yes. The individual stitching and great details are amazing! She has hiding inside the felt, small magnets so the pieces can be used interchangeably between a felt board and a magnetic board.

Felt Magnets

Check out Pete the Cat standing! She chose to place magnets in his paws so the piece could be used for both Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons

Pete the Cat with Magnets

Further Reading: 

Pete the Cat Felt Board Story and Free Template

Button Preschool Theme

Bear Felt Board Stories

Circle of Ideas Online Workshops

10 Little Rubber Ducks Felt Board Story by Eric Carle

Eric Carle's books correlate to felt stories so effectively. In addition, his stories always contain lessons for young children to learn such as mathematical concepts like subtraction and addition. Years ago, I read 10 Little Rubber Ducks and immediately knew I wanted to turn the book into a felt story. When I finished and was at circle time telling the story, I realized a little mistake that I made... the pieces were so big, it was challenging  to tell the story on a regular felt board easel. I had to take pieces on and off throughout the telling of the story. You can tell through the photos, the creased lines where the felt material has been folded to get into its bag. But, we always learn through our mistakes and since then, when making felt stories pieces, I make them smaller in size. Best of all,  it saves on felt material and cost! So, since the pieces are extra large, the felt story is shown among a number of photos.

The children love this story and at the end I hide the plastic toy duck and squeak it behind the board, so they cannot see.  Throughout the story, the children can help to count the ducks and learn about direction (north, south, east, west, up, down, etc.) I wrote the story on index cards, which makes it easier to tell as I coordinate the felt pieces.

Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas

Toddlers and Felt Board Activities

Presently, I work in an Infant/Toddler Daycare Room where the children are predominantly between the ages of one and two. After so many years working with preschool ages (3-5), I am pleasantly surprised at how much they LOVE the felt stories. I watch their faces light up as I pull out the box. As I repeat many of the same stories, songs or poems with felts, the words and melodies become familiar to the children. It truly makes me smile as they jump up to dance, clap their hands, and sit down to listen. The felt pieces allow the children to visually make a connection to the words being spoken which fosters language development. If permitted, they love to participate in the process by placing the felt pieces on the board or removing them. A story like The Very Hungry Caterpillar involves a number of concepts and with each telling of the story, the lessons are repeated.

When I am selling my felt stories at our local Farmer's Market in the summer, I have many shoppers asking me if their toddler is old of enough to enjoy. This year, I am going to say that I think it is the perfect age for felt board activities!

Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas

Eric Carle Books into Felt Board Stories

Felt stories derived from published books is a popular way of enjoying the flannel board with young children. Eric Carle has always been my favorite author and artist to transfer into felt stories. His pictures are not complex and his storyline is usually systematic, lending itself to pieces coming on and off the flannel board. His stories always hold learning elements, from counting numbers to life lessons! The following photos are some of my hand-made stories that are a part of my "toolbox"  as an early childhood educator. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" felt pieces to accompany his published book, is a popular purchase when I am selling felt stories at markets or conferences. In addition, I have written an article about creating a theme within a preschool or daycare curriculum all around the book which can be viewed on my website: Circle of Ideas.




The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Rooster is Off to See the World

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Little Cloud

10 Little Rubber Ducks