We have all types of felt boards in my classroom. I am always making felt pieces to go along with a book we read or a topic we might be interested in. Sometimes the children use the felt pieces as intended and other times they just play with them in ways that are more interesting to them…
These are our mini-felt boards. I made all the felt boards using the process that I blogged about earlier this year. You can see how to make your own felt board here…
We set our mini-felt boards out on the table for play. I have six mini-felt boards total but they don’t only get used for felt. Sometimes, I set them out with other tools for play like these buttons. The felt boards make a nice, soft, and quiet surface for the children to lay small items out in patterns or for sorting or just to explore…
I also have a several different sized felt boards that I use. We use felt boards to explore patterns or to play games like in the activity below…
And we use them to tell stories or to illustrate simple children’s songs and finger plays….
And hanging on the wall are two flannel boards down low with flannel board pieces out at all times for the children to explore…
I love using flannel boards throughout the classroom environment. I think flannel board pieces offer wonderful opportunities for story telling, imagination, and extended learning…
Any flannel (or felt) board activity I use during circle time, gets left out on the floor for the children to come back to and try on their own…
By leaving it out for the children to explore on their own, they can retell the story or rearrange the pieces as they like…
If you have a flannel board activity or post to share, I would love for you to share them!
You guys are great, I just love all the wonderful ideas that you give us childcare providers alike! Keep em coming…I use most of them often!
Thank you Tiffanie:) I am glad you are finding a way to use the activities in your own classroom!! That’s awesome!
Thank for this! I do have some feltboard stuff but I needed some inspiration!
You are welcome:)
Deborah, I read your blog and go, what do you do about space? Do you have unlimited space in your school, or are you an organization wizard? I try to do activities like this at home for my kids, but get overwhelmed very fast
Oh no – I have the smallest classroom EVER!! I do a lot of rotating and yes – major organizing. Oh – but I do have two spaces – one that is used during better weather (we are not using it right now) called the outdoor classroom and our indoor classroom. Our indoor classroom is teeny tiny:)
Thank you for your constant and cute posts! I have two children, and the oldest is 3 1/2, so I love getting ideas from you. Question – I made a flannel board and it doesn’t seem to grab things very well. I washed it beforehand – was that a mistake? Is felt better? Just wondering if you had any recommendations. I don’t think felt would stick to the board if it were standing straight up and down. Thanks again!
I don’t know that washing hurt anything but it might have caused it to soften up it’s hold a bit. I use felt pieces only and they work well on the flannel but it isn’t the hard/stiff felt – it is the softer felt that seems to have the best hold.
When I saw the first picture it reminded me of another similar work I made — I made ice cream cones and scoops but wrote uppercase letters on the cones and lowercase letters on the scoops for them to match. Thanks for doing this blog — so many great ideas!
I didn’t think of doing it that way – what a great idea and we have been talking lots about upper and lower case letters!!
I love this idea!! What a great thing to make for kids to do during quiet time. Thanks for the wonderful idea. 🙂 I’ve linked back to your site and originally found you on Pinterest.
Welcome to my site:) Gotta love that Pinterest!
Hi Deborah! I recently discovered your blog and I was fascinated by the flannel board ideas for my special needs students. I had a few questions: What kind of felt do you use for the boards? And is it the same for the pieces? Are flannel and felt the same thing? About the various story pieces – Do you make them all yourself for each story or activity? I noticed some of them are printed pieces. Are those felt as well? Bought or homemade? Thank you so much for many wonderful teaching ideas!
Hi Paulette,
I use flannel to cover the boards and felt to make pieces to put on the boards. You can get colorful rectangles of felt at a craft store but I like the stiff felt best because it is easier to hold and move. However, the soft felt sticks better to the flannel board. Felt and flannel are similar but not the same. I make most of my pieces but I do buy some at times from our local education store or folks I see selling felt stories onlin.e
Thank you so much! This is mine, and my students, new favorite thing!