Quiet/Busy books

This year for Christmas I made Quiet Books (or busy books) for my 3 year old niece, and 1 1/2 year old nephews. I got the idea from a friend who made them for her great grandchildren. I got online and found many ideas for the pages. In the end, they turned out great but were very time consuming. Most of the pages were the same, but a few I made specific for the boys, and specific to my niece. Here they are!

I love the boys' covers. Cute material from Hobby Lobby.

A mitten to put your hand in:-)

A little house.

Peek behind the curtain, door, and bush for a surprise!:

Learn to tie the cat's collar:

Fall leaves:

They velcro on. I painted the velcro for 2 reasons; because otherwise it is too

strong and all that pulling will ruin it. Also, they are color coordinated to the leaves for matching!

A touchy-feely bird's nest.

Peek inside to see the eggs!:

A camping page. This has a zipper for learning to zip.

Unzip and find a sleepy camper!:

A dog house, with a scotty dog peeking out:-)

Pull him out and take him for a walk!:

The barn (possibly one of my favorite pages!):

Open the barn doors to find 2 farm animal finger puppets!:

Also hidden you will find a chicken on top, a cow, and a chick on a bail of hay:-)

I cut those out of some farm animal material and fabric glued them in.

Another favorite page. The boys got tractors with tires that unbutton:

The boys got a little lad to dress up (Velcro on the clothes, and I again painted the

rougher velcro so the hold wouldn't be as strong):

My favorite boys page. The last page is a little car mat!

In the pocket you will find a sail boat, and 2 little felt cars

I made with button wheels:-) I think it's so cute!

The boys got a fishing page. The fish hook onto fish hooks (hook and eyes). My friend

Megan suggested tying them on with embroidery floss because the fish kept getting unhooked and falling out of the books.

After "catching the fish" they can stick them in the boat if they want:

The girl's button page has flowers to unbutton:

The girl's book has a little girl and dress-ups made from bits of trim and lace I bought at the craft store. I finished the edges by melting them carefully with a match. Sewed on velcro.

Instead of the fishing page the girl's book has a laundry page.

I had tiny clothes pins to hang the clothes on the line! This is my favorite girl's page:-)

The last page in the girl's book has 2 pockets to stick a pad of paper and crayons

to keep a little one entertained some more!

Now for the facts:

•I made 12 pages each.

•I used flannel fabric.

•I made the pages about 10 by 12 or so (I think).

•I used lots of fabric glue (I think a whole bottle between the three books!), but I also sewed allot in that would be handled and need better secured.

•I used allot of felt which I bought. Also allot of scrap fabric which I had on hand.

•I sewed everything onto the fabric pages before I sewed the pages (like front and back) together. Then I sewed the 2 pieces (which equaled four pages),with the right sides facing, together. I turned them right side out and finished all around the edge. When all the pages were finished I assembled them in order, laid them on the cover, and sewed right down the middle through all of the layers.

•I don't know that I would make another anytime soon, but it was fun and I have allot of leftovers!