DIY Felt Board

I made this super easy felt board and gave to Max as a Christmas present.   It has been getting lots of play time so I thought I would share the project with you.  

I failed to take any before pictures, but it is a really easy project.  

You will need:
an artist stretched canvas ( i used a 11x14 but I wish it was a bit larger)
enough felt to cover the board ( you can buy this by the yard)
staple gun

Just cut your felt to size and stretch tight around the canvas.  Staple all the way around on the back side.

I picked out some of Maxton's favorite books and cut out the characters from felt.
He is "reading" Brown Bear in the below photo.  As he tells the story he puts up the animals on his felt board.  I also bought some pre cut letters at a local teacher supply store, they were a little pricy but I didn't want to cut out all the upper and lower case letter.

spelling his name

This Maxtivity encourages open ended play and is a great way to develop language and literacy skills.

Christmas Maxtivities

 

Gingerbread House

We took the easy route and bought a kit at Target.

It was easy and fun!

 

 Speedway in Lights

 

Visits with Santa

Maxton has had quite alot of face time with Santa this year.

He has stayed consistent with his wishes each time.

 

Making Play Clay Ornaments

I should be cleaning my house or doing something more productive but it is Christmas season so we have been crafting all morning.  I love Saturdays!

You will need:

2 Cups of Baking Soda

1 Cups of Corn Starch

1 and 1/4 Cups of Water

food coloring 

decorations of your choosing (we used glitter and craft gems)

I used this recipe:    http://www.armandhammer.com/solutions/solution-20/Play-Clay.aspx

 Mix together baking soda, corn starch and water in a saucepan. Heat on Medium 

  until it looks like mashed potatoes. Stir the whole time, it took about 10 minutes.

Place on a plate and let cool before kneading into a ball of dough.  We divided ours into two balls and added green food coloring to one batch and glitter to the other.

glitter batch

food coloring batch

 Roll out your dough and use cookie cutters to make whatever shapes you want.  Max wanted to make green trees and white snowflakes, so that's what we made.  Poke a small hole in each one so you can hang it later.

We decorated ours with little gems but you could also paint them.

 When you finish decorating let them harden for a few hours or you can heat them in the oven.

I preheated to 300 and then turned the oven off before putting them inside.  I left them in the heat for about 20 minutes.  I will probably brush on some Modge Podge to seal.