The Quiet Book Makes Its Debut!

My friends, I thought today might never come.  When I decided months ago to tackle the quiet book, I think I was a bit ambitious--or perhaps crazy!  I planned 20 detailed pages for my book, and attempted to finish one page each week.  Page by page, piece by piece, the pages came together and I have been dying to show you the finished product!  I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to have actually finished this big (more like enormous!) project!  

No, you aren't seeing double!!  By the time I painstakingly finished each page, with each and every tiny velcro piece, I realized my book would be enormously thick!  I finally decided to make TWO quiet books.  This way, Little Man won't tire of the same book over and over... I can alternate which quiet book I bring with us to church, the doctor's office, or even on a road trip!!  I can also switch out pages and create a whole new combination of quiet book fun!

So come take a peek inside the books with me!  I will share some helpful hints at the end of this post...

{Just click pictures to enlarge}

Build a Hamburger Page

Skill:  Decision making, food knowledge, imaginative play.

Using burger accessories stored in the McDonald's bag, you can build your own hamburger, complete with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles.  Accessories are secured with velcro.

Ladybug Page

Skill:  Buttoning.

The ladybug's spots can be buttoned and unbottoned.

Stoplight Page

Skill:  Matching colors, learning about traffic rules.

This page was the first page I tackled because it was the easiest!!  You can match the green, yellow, and red stop light colors to the stop light using velcro.

Road Page

Skill:  Motor skills, imaginative play.

A matchbox car, attached with string, is parked in the garage.  You can drive the car around the little neighborhood.

Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head

Skill:  Knowing body parts, practice with dressing.

This is still my favorite page!!  There is a bare potato body sewed on the page, and you can secure the spud face and accessories with velcro.  Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head have a variety of accessories, and I love that I can continue to make more!  You can see this page in detail here.

Basket of Accessories!

  

Skill:  Using clothes pins.

This page is directly next to the Potato Heads.  All of the extra accessories are stored in the basket, and you can hang them up by clothes pins also.  

This is how the 2 pages look next to each other.

Balloon Page

Skill: Snapping, knowledge of shapes, matching.

Shape balloons are matched and secured using snaps.  The ribbon can also be tied and untied.

Counting Page

Skill:  Counting.

Beads are used to count the watermelon seeds by sliding the beads from one side of the ribbon to another.

Peek-A-Boo Bus Page

Skill:  Motor skills, guessing/predicting.

Behind each window and each wheel, I sewed vinyl windows.  I slid pictures into each window so you can open and close the flaps to play peek-a-boo like this:

Telephone Page

Skill:  Imaginative play, snapping, number knowledge.

The phone receiver, attached with a curly shoe string, can be snapped to the phone receiver.  You can pick up the phone receiver and have pretend phone calls!

Tic Tac Toe

Skill:  Reasoning/logic

The playing mat is also a pocket so that the X's and O's store neatly inside.  You can play tic tac toe quietly all through church if you wish... Mr. Daisy and I tested it out today!

Baseball Page

Skill:  Motor skills, matching.

The baseball and bat can be removed and matched using velcro.  You can put your hand inside the leather baseball glove!

Chick-a Chick-a Boom Boom

Skill:  ABC's.

The coconut letters are stored on the next page.  The letters can be added to the coconut tree, attached with velcro.

Boat Page

Skill:  Zipping.

The coconut letters are stored inside the boat, which is opened with a zipper.  Here is a view of the 2 pages side by side:

Barn Page

Skill:  Imaginative Play.

The barn doors open to a pocket full of barn animal finger puppets!  (That is the one thing I still have left to do!)

Ice Cream Page

Skill:  Imaginative Play, knowledge of food.

The food truck is opened with a flap that holds numerous other ice cream flavor scoops.  You can build your own ice cream cone by securing your scoops with velcro.

Clock Page

Skill:  Telling time, number skills.

The minute hand and hour hand rotate, and can spin to tell a new time!

Gumball Machine

Skill:  Matching colors.

Gumballs are matched by color, using velcro to secure them in place.

Tie A Shoe Page

Skill:  Tying shoes.

The shoe can be tied and untied.

Notes Page

Skill:  Drawing, writing.

I sewed 3 pockets to hold a notebook along with a pen, pencil, or crayons, or little love notes.

Here are some helpful hints for the entire process:

* I chose to sew my pages on white muslin.  Each page is 10 x 12.5 inches.  

* When I was done with each individual page, I sewed the pages back to back with another layer of muslin ironed onto a sheet of interfacing for extra thickness, stiffness, and durability. 

* I used A LOT of felt.  I think I bought 3/4 yard of each of the major colors of felt.  I have used most of it!

* I decided to make a 3-ring book because of the flexibility it offered me.  I could take pages out to pass them down to children down the pew.  I could take them out to wash them or even to fix up the sewing in case of wear and tear!  I could make the book bigger or smaller, or even add pages to it!  (I am already dreaming of a Halloween jack-o-lantern page or a Christmas tree page!)

* I used large eyelets  and used a piece of notebook paper as my guide to create the holes and then put it all together with book rings.

* I sewed my covers with regular cotton fabric, slightly larger than the pages.  Again, I sewed a sheet of muslin with interfacing in between them.

* Each quiet book has a button strap to keep it closed... I don't want all of those goodies spilling out any time soon!  On the back of the book covers, I sewed a pocket just in case I feel like throwing in a treat, a love note, or in the event that some pieces that DID fall out last minute.  Or maybe it will just hold some candy for ME!

Whew!

Can you see why this took months to finish?!  I think it was probably crazy for attempting this, but I am so glad I was that crazy!  I {heart} these books!  Little Man gave his stamp of approval today in church, and I can only imagine that they will get years of experience and use!  

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Now, I realize I didn't go into a whole lot of details about the creation of each and every page.  I wanted to show off the entire product first!

SO now it's your turn, my dear and lovely readers! 

* Do you have a specific question about the process? 

* Would like to see one page in more specific detail?

* Would you like me to create a downloadable template for a specific page?

Leave me a comment with your questions, and I will probably type up a question and answer post if there is enough interest.  

Enjoy your week!

You can see the Quiet Book Question & Answer post here.  

You can download your own 9 templates here.  

PS  Thanks to these blogs for the inspiration:

How to Make a Quiet Book, 

Modest Maven, 

Homemade by Jill, 

Nap Time Journal, 

Crafty Chic, 

Crafting Chicks