Thursday, October 6, 2011

Busy Book - Caterpillar Page (Numbers and Patterns)

Here is the second page I've made for a busy book. It is a caterpillar. Each segment of the caterpillar's body has a number (1-8). I've made the odd numbers brown and the even numbers purple. They attach with magnets.



When Michael uses the book I would expect him to put the numbers in order. I may also try to teach him the concept of even and odd numbers. When Ava uses the book she may put them on in any order that pleases her, or she could practice patterns. She might do one purple then one brown, two purples and two browns, or all four purples then all four browns for example. I may encourage Michael to play with patterns too.

Here are some brief comments on how I made the page:
  1. I used the sewing machine to make the numbers. I did the number one and the number two with a zigzag stitch, but quickly discovered that my skills were not up to making a 3 with a zigzag stitch. So I switched to something easier. It looked fine, but I was not going to go back and re-do the first two numbers because I am simply not that much of a perfectionist.
  2. Underneath the white circles I've hidden two paper clips. This is what the magnets are attracted to that makes the caterpillar work.
  3. The magnets are sewn in between two layers of felt to make the number circles. Before attaching the two layers I sewed the number on the top circle and tacked the magnet down on the bottom circle so it wouldn't slide around when I was sewing the circle together.

1 comment:

  1. what a great idea. i like the paperclips too; creative.

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