Quiet Book Page 18: Black and White Weave

This is the VERY LAST page of Owen's Quiet Book!! It was a "save the easiest for last" kind of page and I love it. 

Page 18: Weave

Teaches: Contrast, how to weave

My inspiration for this page came from my friends quiet book and from here. In the link, she made it so the weave is a tower, but for mine, I kept it super simple with a rectangle. 

Here is how my weave page turned out:

All I did for this page was cut up two different pieces of felt. The black I cut in strips the long way and the white I cut in strips the short way. I then placed and sewed the black strips along the top and placed and sewed the white strips along the left side. 

The strips can be un-woven and re-woven. Make this page and give it a try! It is actually a little trickier than I expected! Have fun with it. 

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Page 17: What Time Is It?

A lot of this quiet book was made to be educational and fun. I wanted to include a page that would teach Owen about time, so this is what I came up with from all the different pages I found. 

Page 17: What Time Is It?

Teaches: Numbers, telling time, analog and digital clocks

My inspiration for this page cam from here. Just like the rest of her quiet book, Sabrina's telling time page is perfection. I loved it, so I made mine based off of hers. My favorite aspect was that it included both analog and digital time. 

Here is my version:

As with most of my other pages, I first drew a sketch of what I wanted the page to look like, then used that as a pattern. I used puffy paint for the "What Time Is It?" and for the numbers on the analog clock. 

A grommet was put in the end of each hand of the analog clock and a button was sewn on top to allow the hands to be moved. 

I cut out little black numbers for all the possible digital combinations of time. The digital clock doubles as a pocket for all those numbers. 

My hope for this page (when Owen is older) is to be able to put a time on one of the clocks and have Owen be able to put the same time on the other clock!

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Page 16: Make a Phone Call

At the time I was making the quiet book, Owen was just learning what a phone was. Now, phones are one of his favorite things and I am so happy that I included this page for him. 

Page 16: Make a Phone Call

Teaches: Numbers, snapping, dialing, talking on the phone

My inspiration for this page came from my friend's book and from here. 

Here is my finished page:

This page was pretty simple to put together. I asked my grandma to check her local thrift store for an old phone with a cord and she found one! They sent me the whole thing, so I used the cord for this page and kept the phone for Owen to play with. 

I first drew out the phone on a piece of paper and picked my felt for each piece. I did mostly hand stitching for this page and I love the look of the blanket stitch. The only tricky part about this page was sewing the cord on. It is a real cord, so the plastic was hard to get the needle through, but it worked out and it hasn't come apart yet. 

I used sew-on snaps to keep the phone piece in place. These snaps are much easier to get off than the snaps I used on my shapes page, but both kinds are good. 

This page is so simple, but Owen loves it! He picks up the phone and says, "Hello?!", then talks all sorts of gibberish until we try to talk back, which is apparently his queue to say, "Bye!!". If your little one loves phones, this would be a perfect addition to their quiet book!

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Pages 14 and 15: Write a Letter and Mailbox

Although Owen won't be able to use this page for a while, I thought it would be a fun one to add in.

Pages 14 and 15: Write a Letter and Mailbox

Teaches: Writing, drawing, how mail works

My inspiration for these pages came from here. She gives a free pattern that I absolutely love! I didn't use all of her pattern, but it was a perfect starting point. 

Here are my pages:

I added the whole left page as a place to store pens or pencils, paper, and envelopes. I also added the grass on the right page just for fun. I love it!

In her pattern for the mailbox, she includes a pattern for little envelopes. I loved the idea of having reusable ones, so I used it. 

Velcro is used to keep them closed when "mail" is inside each envelope. 

I love this pattern because it looks like a real mailbox. It is made so there is a pocket and the mail can actually go into the mailbox. A ribbon and button hold the mailbox closed.  

A button and grommet are used to allow the flag to move up and down for when there is and isn't mail. So cute!

I used some hand stitching and some machine stitching for these pages and I think they turned out great! I can't wait for Owen to understand enough to send and receive mail. 

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Page 13: Noah's Ark

This is probably my very favorite page I made for the quiet book. The reason: all of the cute little animals that go in the ark. They are the best, and I actually designed them myself! If you would like the pattern, please comment your email and I will send the pattern as soon as I can.

Page 13: Noah's Ark

Teaches: Animals, and the story of Noah's Ark

My inspiration for this page came from my friend's quiet book and from here. 

This is how my ark turned out:

I first drew out the arc with all the windows, door, etc on a piece of paper. I used that as my pattern, cut the pieces, and sewed everything together, starting with sewing the zipper into the main boat part. I used mostly machine stitching for the actual ark part and all hand stitching for the animals. 

The rainbow ribbon was given to me by my friend who inspired me to make this quiet book. It is exactly what this page needed to make it perfect. 

For the animals, I drew them out in pencil, then once I liked how they looked, I traced over the pencil with sharpie to get a nice thick pattern. I then traced each individual part onto a different paper. Each of those was labeled and cut out for the pattern. I chose my colors for each animal and started cutting felt. I used all hand stitching (blanket stitch) for these, so they took some extra time, but I absolutely love how they turned out. They are stuffed with normal stuffing and the eyes were added on last using puffy paint.

I scanned in the pattern for all the animals and the sun before cutting them out. If you would like a copy of the pattern, comment on this page or email me!

Sun (obviously not an animal, but I wanted to include it):

Owl: 

Black Bear: 

Lion: 

Giraffe: 

Monkey:

Bird:

Elephant: 

Rhino: 

This is also one of Owen's favorite pages to play with. He loves to take the animals out one by one and kiss them. It's the cutest.

Again, contact me if you would like a copy of the animal patterns and I will get it to you as quickly as possible. 

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Page 12: Tic-Tac-Toe

Most of the pages I put in my quiet book are educational. This is one of the pages that isn't so much for learning as it is for fun. 

Page 12: Tic-Tac-Toe

Teaches: Matching, taking turns, winning and losing

My inspiration for this page came from here. Pinterest almost always had several ideas for each page I wanted to make and this was my favorite tic-tac-toe page. Bonus: it came with a pattern!!

Here is how my page turned out: 

I chose 3 colors to use - black, cream, and red. I then cut out the pattern pieces and stitched everything together. In the pops and podge page, she used fabric glue to hold most of her things together. I stitched all of mine. All of the black as well as the velcro is machine stitched, while the X's and O's are hand stitched to the circles. 

There is a pocket in the top left corner of the page for the extra pieces to be stored. Each piece has velcro on the back and there is velcro sewn in each square on the grid. 

I sewed the letters on by machine and it was surprisingly easy and turned out great! 

When making this quiet book, I was getting tired and overwhelmed. I was thinking about which pages to eliminate and this was a contender. My husband didn't want me to because then he wouldn't have a page to play with; so it ended up staying. I am so happy with how it turned out. 

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Pages 10 and 11: Alphabet

Sorry I have been a little MIA lately on the blog! We have been busy with our move back to school and getting settled in. Now that we are, I am excited to get back to blogging. 

The alphabet was a must-have for my quiet book. It turned out especially perfect for Owen's name; keep reading and you will see why!

Pages 10 and 11: Alphabet

Teaches: Alphabet, letters, spelling

My inspiration for this page came from my friend's quiet book. She made her quiet book and it inspired me to make mine. She included the alphabet and I just used the same materials and technique as her. 

Here are my pages:

I first chose 3 colors I liked for the felt. I bought the iron-on letters at Walmart. I measured the letters and cut the felt squares to fit (2" by 2"). I then sewed small squares of velcro to each felt square. The letters were then ironed on. I sewed on the other side of the velcro pieces onto the pages to fit 4 letters across on the left page and 3 across on the right. 

I used all of the letters in the package, so I sewed two pieces of felt to make a large pocket to hold all of the extra pieces. With all of the extra letters and the left page having spaces for 4 letters across, Owen will be able to learn to spell his first and last names using these letters!! 

I love how these pages turned out and I hope it will help Owen learn his alphabet!!

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Page 9: Tie the Laces!

When I was figuring out what pages to put in my quiet book, I decided I wanted the majority of them to teach something. This page with little pretend shoes is perfect for kids to learn how to tie shoes. I love it!

Page 9: Tie the Laces

Teaches: How to lace up and tie shoes

Throughout the process of making my quiet book, I was so grateful for templates to follow. They made the pages so easy to do. This was one of those template pages. I got the pattern from here and just followed all of her instructions. 

Here is my page: 

For the most part, my page is just like hers. As far as differences, I used larger grommets and I did not use glue for anything; the whole page was hand-stitched

"tie the laces" up close

I think this page turned out so cute! I look forward to when he will be able to use it.

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Page 8: Button Flowers

This was my fastest and easiest page to make. If I get the motivation, I may go back and spruce it up a bit. For now; however, it serves its purpose.

Page 8: Button Flowers

Teaches: Colors, how to do and undo a button

I saw many, many renditions of this page before and after I made it. I initially wanted to label the colors for each flower, but decided I would rather have more flowers instead. After I finished my page, a friend of mine sent an idea for a similar page that I loved, but I had already finished mine, so I didn't change it. I ended up with this: 

Each flower has a coordinating button to go on. 

For this page, I first picked through my button stash to find a button in every color. I then googled flower drawings and found one that I liked. I scaled the web page to the correct size and traced it onto plain white paper. I cut it out and used it as my pattern to cut one flower from each color of felt. I added a slit to the center of each flower and placed them on the page how I liked. Each button was hand sewn onto the page and then the flowers were buttoned on. 

As I mentioned at the top, if I get the motivation, I may spruce it up by adding another flower layer to make the flowers more sturdy. They work for now though, and Owen loves the colors!

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Pages 6 and 7: Barn and Grassy Hill

As I was making the quiet book, these pages were my favorite of all the ones I had made. They turned out so cute and didn't take a ton of time!

Pages 6 and 7: Barn and Grassy Hill

Teaches: Animals, imaginative play, using finger puppets

My inspiration and pattern for these pages came from here. It was SO nice having a template for everything rather than having to draw it out myself. It made it go a lot faster, and I love how it turned out!

I just printed off her template, cut out the pieces and sewed everything together! The whole barn page is machine stitched on. 

As is the grassy hill page. I used one whole piece of green felt for this page and cut it to make pocket for the animals to go in. 

The barn doors stay closed via velcro.

And there are the finger puppet animals!! Tucked nicely into their little pocket.

I just love these little animals. They were all hand stitched together, then the eyes were added using puffy paint. 

Here is the empty barn.

And the animals playing on the hill. 

Super fun and super cute! Thanks Jocelyn for the awesome template!

~K.A.N.

Quiet Book Pages 4 and 5: Numbers and Math

Of all the pages I did, I think these took the most amount of time. It was worth the extra effort of hand stitching to get the end result though!

Pages 4 and 5: Numbers and Math

Teaches: numbers and counting, order, addition, subtraction

My inspiration for these pages came from all over. After looking at several quiet books, I knew I wanted a page with numbers. I initially wasn't planning on doing a math page, but I just couldn't help myself. Math is my favorite, so why not add it in? 

This is what I came up with: 

For the numbers, I found a web page that had numbers as coloring pages. I zoomed the screen to be the right size, then traced them by holding plain white paper right up to the computer screen and tracing (lightly) using a pencil. 

I picked the three colors of felt I wanted to use, cut the numbers out of the paper and used those as my pattern to cut the numbers out of felt. 

With each number cut out, I then cut out black rectangles to be just larger than the numbers. I used a blanket stitch to hand sew each number onto the black. That is the part that took forever. I love how they turned out though, so I'm glad I took the time to do it that way. 

I then cut nine more black rectangles, machine stitched one side of velcro on each, then machine stitched those to the page. I then realized that if I didn't want machine stitching to show through my numbers (which I didn't) I was going to have to hand stitch the other side of velcro on the back of the number rectangles. I knew I would rather take the time now to do the work and have it be exactly how I wanted, so I did. 

For the math page, a similar approach was taken. I made a whole second set of numbers (plus a 0) to allow every possible addition and subtraction formula of the numbers 1-9 to be done. The plus, minus, and both equal signs were hand stitched onto the page. 

As with the numbers page, these numbers velcro on and off. A large pocket was sewn to the bottom of the page to hold the extra numbers. 

So far, these have been two of Owen's favorite pages. He may not know what they are actually for, but he loves the velcro and the bright colors!

~K.A.N.