Flannel Friday: Flannel board on the fly

I have been at my new job for about a month now (though I am part time so really it feels like less) and I am still catching on to where things are.  I think when my job-share partner was showing me around she showed me a smaller flannel board to hold easily, but on Monday she was not there and I had no idea where it was.  The only flannel board that I could find was part of a large easel and not really appropriate for my baby time.

So, I decided to just make one.  It really did not take much time at all.  At first I planned to cut a piece of cardboard to the size that I wanted.  But, as I was scrounging around for a good piece of cardboard I came across this kind of old binder.  Since there were several spares in a cupboard and this one had really gunky stuff all over the one side I figured it would be ok to cut apart.  The front was the perfect size for a small flannel board, and BONUS - it has a pocket to store the pieces in!

I took my binder cover and found some felt that would fit.  Ideally I would have used a light blue for a 'sky' background, but there was none on hand so I went with an off white.  One sheet of flannel did not cover the whole binder, so I just cut some green to look hillish.

To stick the flannel to the binder I used some rubber cement.  I had thought about using a glue gun, but the rubber cement will make a smooth binding where as  the glue gun will be bumpy.  I coated both the binder and the flannel with the rubber cement and stuck them together.  After a little drying - voila - quick flannel board.

I did add a little tacky glue under the green where it overlaps the white as the flannels had absorbed a lot of the rubber cement and were not sticking together.  And, were I to do this again I might cut the white to match the green a little better so there is not that ridge, but it is really not that big of a deal.

I would say it took maybe 30 minutes to get this made (and that probably includes rounding up the supplies) and I let it dry for a little while.  But, if needed you could whip one out to be ready in an hour.

I also have an actual flannel to share this week.  We have a monthly program where kids come to play with some toys and we put out a few crafts and activities.  I decided that I would love for the kids to have some flannels to play around with.  I had seen this idea from a blog while browsing Pinterest and decided to make some of my own boards to put out in the library.  The original poster made individual flannel pages for her kids to play with and I thought that would be a great literacy tool.  So, I made a fish flannel.

I have some rhymes and songs to put out with the fish.  All of the pieces come off so they can move them all around and tell a story if they like.  One side of the fish are decorated as fish and the flip side is numbered so they can count them.  And, of course, I can add them to the flannel collection to use in story time as well!

You can find this week's round-up with Courtney at Miss Courtney Meets Bobo.  All things Flannel Friday can be found on the blog and all flannels are shared via Pinterst.