DIY Felt Family Project

A guest post by Anastasia Irvine from Motherhood: Deconstructed.
Ana is a married stay-at-home mom to two beautiful girls. If you’d like to read more from Ana, you can find her blogging here, on Facebook, and Twitter too!

DIY Felt Family Project

Ever notice that young kids are more interested in the box that their toys come in then the toy itself? It’s easy to spend way too much money on high-tech, overly-priced toys to keep our little ones entertained.  When I think about my favorite toys, they were the ones that were simple and basic. The things that employed my naturally abundant imagination were the ones that made the greatest impact- and they just happen to be the cheapest!  One day at our local library’s story time the librarian played/sung "Flip-Flap Jack" a game that used felt cut-outs and a felt board. My daughter, along with the other children (ages 1-5) loved it so much and was overjoyed to reach her turn on the board. It sparked my Idea for good old fashion felt dolls, complete with a playground, bedding, clothes and anything else that strikes our fancy. It is easy, fun, affordable and a healthy imagination exercising game that is a huge hit with the kids! 

Here is what you need:

1. Felt in as many colors as you like
2. Sheet of paper
3. Cardboard or canvas board
4. Scissors
5. Tacky glue
6. Pen
7. Optional- markers, google eyes, fun fabric glues & glitter, embroidering thread to decorate

Here’s how to make the people and clothes. I like to make the parents, an older kid and a baby. Also draw on a rough estimate of clothing on the template, like a dress outline, pants or shirt.:

Draw a template on a piece of paper for your felt family. Then trace on to felt of your choice

Cut out and draw in features (glue on eyeballs if not drawing them in)

After using the template for the family, cut off the head, feet, arm parts to leave only the clothing outline- this is your clothes template.

Trace clothing template on felt in many colors then cut out and decorate with your kids!

Making felt background and scenes:

1. Measure out enough felt to cover the board (cardboard or canvas, recycle whatever you have) and overlap the back by an inch or so
2. Glue around the edges on the back of the board.
3. Wrap the felt around the front and pull extra fabric tight around the back. Press down to glue and allow time to dry (30min to an hour)
4. Draw out tree trunks, tree tops, bushes, flowers, clouds, slides, swings, beds, etc. and cut them for removable scenery 

Finished Product