Flannel Boards

[Beach Baby]

I'm working on making a flannel board and was wondering where you keep all of your pieces? Did you buy story sets or did you make your own? I'm going to make my own shapes, letters, and numbers. May make my own story sets, but not sure how they will turn out. Do you keep the board out all the time, or bring it out at certain times?

[Meyou]

I have my boards mounted on the playroom wall. They each have one set of pieces out just stuck to the board and they ask for the rest which I keep in ziploc baggies in a bin in the toy closet.

[kendallina]

I have a large flannel board that I made and I usually just leave it out against the wall. Then I have a small basket where I keep whatever flannel board pieces the kiddos have been working with lately. I make a lot of my own, but I also buy those small wooden animals and vehicles that are already painted from hobby lobby. I think they cost around 50 cents and I hot glue flannel on the back of them, which make them stick on the board. You can also put velcro on the back of them and they'll stick.

I've made a set of letters, lots of shapes and a few animals (and a bed for 5 monkeys jumping on the bed...). I also have a set of popcycle sticks that I put velcro on the back and they can make their own shapes or designs or whatever.

I LOVE our flannel board and it gets used everyday!

[Beach Baby]

Velcro! Great idea! Cant wait to see what I can find to use! I know the kids are going to love it...cant wait to get it finished and hung up! Best part....I got a huge piece of felt and a big cork board (going to put the felt over it) from a yardsale for $1.25! LOVE when I find used things to repurpose!

[Countrygal]

I have all the stuff to make one, just haven't gotten to it yet! You've inspired me!

[Sunchimes]

I have a hint for making flannel board pieces instead of using felt. I've always found felt hard to use because you can't see through it to trace anything and markers never really look right. Many eons ago, when I used felt boards, I bought Pellon. For non-sewers, Pellon is a brand name for the interfacing you use to stiffen fabric pieces. It is a non-woven fabric, which means that, like felt, you can cut it without worrying about fraying.

It is sheer enough that you can put it over a picture using a fine tip Sharpie or even a pen to trace your design. I have used crayons, markers, highlighters, colored pencils, and even oil crayons to color the designs. I don't advise the oil crayons if the pieces are used often. I seem to remember some smearing, but I'll try it out again and post results.

Then, I cut around the shapes and I'm ready to go. I buy the Extra firm #926 at WM. It isn't quite as easy to see through, but it holds up much better. You can get it at WM, Hobby Lobby, Joanns, any place that carries sewing things.

One caution---Do Not buy the iron on or fusible kind. Doesn't work.

[Beach Baby]

Thanks for the tip about Pellon! I am going to give that a try for my story pieces! I bought some wooden animals that are already painted from walmart today along with some Velcro. The wooden animals were only $.53 each! Can't wait to try them out. I was just thinking about storage and I'm thinking that maybe one of those accordion folders may work. I can label each slot and store the appropriate pieces in there. Countrygal, have fun making yours! I'm so excited to get ours done!

[itlw8]

when books wear out instead of tossing I cut out the pictures and laminate then put the sticky velcro on the back

[Beach Baby]

Great idea to use old books for pictures too! I was searching for templates and found this: http://www.dltk-kids.com/type/felt_board.htm LOVE that site! I copied and pasted the pictures I wanted into a Word document so I could resize them as they are rather large. I also found their coloring pages and copied shapes from there to make felt shapes. I am going to get some Pellon tomorrow, can't wait to try it out!