There is some very nice sensory play items on the commercial market. But, I prefer to make my own felt shapes versus purchasing manufactured products.

This multi-part post will show you how to get started making economical felt shapes for pre-school children and younger grade school children.

Felt breakfast. Image copyright Malika Bourne

Making felt items for kids to experience texture and shapes is requires minimal artistic skills and few tools.

1. Felt in different colors can be found at craft stores and fabric stores.
2. Scissors
3. Markers
4. Paper. (i use tissue paper, paper sack, new paper, old envelope.)
5. Variety of different shapes to trace. In this post we focus on circles.

Coins for small round templates to trace. Image copyright Malika Bourne

Household items to trace for the shape

• jar lids
• note cards
• small boxes
• spools
• coins
• credit cards

Trace credit cards for rectangles. Image copyright Malika Bourne

In this last image I used empty roll of Duct Tape to make nice circles.

What could a tan colored felt circle be in your child’s imagination?

Tape roll to trace large circle. Image copyright Malika Bourne.

I imagined a cookie to go along with the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie at first.

Then I saw a pancake or a ball.

What is most important, tho’ , is what your child can imagine in play.

• Understanding that need for freedom to imagine, I did not want that circle to be locked in to only being a chocolate chip cookie.
• Chocolate chips made from scraps of darker brown felt can be added to or taken away as the child sees fit.
• Save the scraps in a zip-lock bag.. Some time in the near future you may need tiny pieces of this or that. Why go buy a 9 X 12 piece for a 1 inch square? Using left-overs is almost like gettign them for free.

Fried Egg:

• bigger white circle
• smaller yellow circle

The amazing thing about using basic shapes is that a plain circle can also be a beach ball , sun, a plate r anything else your child can image.

If you are reading Green Eggs and Ham you may want to substitute with green circles used a a rug in play living room.

What do felt shapes do?

• Felt shapes inspire imaginary play as children mimic adults and others at work, at hoe, at play as children learn about the world they live in.
• The more senses we use the more we retain what we learned.
• Match; count;sort;create and more…

Resources for parents to explore:

http://www.pbs.org/parents/child-development/sensory-play/developing-and-cultivating-skills-through-sensory-play/

http://www.learning4kids.net/list-of-sensory-play-ideas/

http://kidsactivities.about.com/od/CreativePlay/a/SensoryPlay.htm

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Update September 17, 2017: Wow! over 2 years have passed since I publisheed this post. Making felt shape turned into an on-line Shopify Store now known at No Non-cents Nanna’s Heart Felt Play Store. Click HERE to begin to Explore the Store collections.

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