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.

Busy Book - Shapes Page

As I was browsing the web searching for fleece hat patterns I found some patterns and examples of busy books. Busy books are homemade activity books made out of cloth - usually felt. Some people make busy books entirely of pages that are quiet when the child plays with them and then they call them quiet books. They are to entertain a child when you need them to be quiet (at church, in a waiting room, etc...). Here is an example of a completed busy book.

We travel for the holidays on extended car trips and I thought it would be fun to make some busy books to keep the children entertained during the car ride. I finished my first page today. It is a simple shape matching page using velcro to attach the pieces. I'm pretty pleased at how my first attempt turned out.

If I get it done tomorrow I'll show you the second page I'm working on. It uses magnets and focuses on numbers and patterns.

A Couple of Projects

Using my sewing machine, some scrap fleece I've had lying around for ages, and this Snowblossom Fleece Hat Tutorial I made Ava a hat. It took me about an hour and a half. The tutorial is really well done, and the sizing guidelines worked perfectly.

It would be even cuter in a better color combination, but I just used what I had around. If I make a trip to a fabric store, I'll pick out colors to make another one for Ava and one for Michael too.

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I stumbled upon a picture of a project someone had done using plastic Easter eggs to make a word family activity. I decided to make some for Michael. He's really proud of being able to sound out three letter words, but he is sounding them out letter by letter and hadn't caught on to word families yet. I've only made two so far, but they work beautifully. He can rattle off seven or eight words so quickly this way. It's becoming automatic. I really need to make the time to make some more.

Sorry about the picture being so blurry, but at least it gives you an idea. First I tried glue and that didn't work so well, so with the second one I tried tape. That didn't work all that well either. Anyone have any other ideas?