fun with felt

Emma Jane loves the felt board at the library. As a matter of fact, I have to keep her from taking the felt pieces off the board during class when her teacher is using it to tell a story. So, I thought, why not make one she can play with at home? I bought a large piece of foam poster board, a yard of pink felt, and several colors of the smaller pieces of felt. I measured and cut the pink felt to fit the board, stapled it around the back of the board, and covered the staples with masking tape. Now, I've never claimed to be an artist, so the pieces I have made for her board so far are pretty basic. I cut out some simple shapes to make a house, a boat, a tree, clouds, and the sun. A wavy strip of blue for a river and a shaggy strip of green for grass....voila! Emma Jane mainly likes to take the pieces OFF the board, but she tries to put the apples on the tree and place the rays around the sun. I also cut out some animals from an old pop-up book she had accidently torn, and she likes to put the animals in the boat! She generally likes to just stick the pieces on willy nilly, but I know that in time she'll better understand the concept. I hope this felt board will entertain Emma Jane for years to come.