Felt envelopes, cards, and stamps...oh, my!

A few years back, I created the girls several felt envelopes, cards, and stamps for Valentine's Day.

  

They are still a favorite to play with!

Izzie has been requesting "more", especially Birthday themed cards.  It truly warms my heart that my girls love playing with their homemade toys!

So, here's what I came up with...

Birthday Cards

Stamps and Name Labels

 

Velcro attached to stamps and labels for easy attachment to envelopes.

 Birthday envelopes, letters, and stamps to add to the postal collection! 

The girls' "BIG" gift...

For Christmas, my girls receive 2 1/2 gifts from us. One "big" gift that they share and then two individual gifts. This year, their shared gift was the "Diner"!

I found this Pottery Barn market stand on Craigslist for $35, which I was thrilled about! It retails for $300. With a little fabric and imagination, I transformed it into the "DINER"...

I was super excited to make more felt food for the girls! I added a few accessories and their cash register from their current play kitchen.

Homemade waffles and bacon with an apple (from their play kitchen).

Homemade pancake, egg, and bacon with an orange (from their play kitchen).

Homemade hotdog with chips and cookies (from their play kitchen). I borrowed their ketchup and mustard from their kitchen too!

For the fourth place setting, I borrowed the entire sandwich and fries from their kitchen!!

I found a ton of adorable "Diner" accessories at Michael's!

The plates, baskets, bowls, cups, and utensils were all purchased at Michael's. Plates and baskets were $1 each, bowls and cups were 2 for $1, and a set of 4 utensils for $1.

I had planned on making menus, but couldn't resist the matching menus at Michael's! The smaller ones were 40 in a pack for $1...I laminated a few for the girls and stored the others.

The larger menus were $1 each.

I also got these cute little bags! What's inside each bag?

Dry-erase order-taking board, of course! Only $1 each at Michael's!

Guest checks...huge packet (I think 50) for only $1. I laminated a few for each girl, so they can reuse them.

Play checks (again, I think 50 in the package) for only $1. I laminated several in order to reuse them!

Play money....again, laminated to last longer! A bunch in the package for only $1.

The guest checks, play checks, and play money were all purchased at Michael's.

In addition, I found two cute 2-piece chef apron/hat and waitress apron/hat sets for only $1 at Michael's!

I'm thrilled with the way the "Diner" turned out and very thankful for all the amazing accessories that I found at Michael's!

Total cost...

Pottery Barn Market Stand: $35
Fabric/letters for transformation: $15
Accessories from Michael's: $24
Homemade felt food: free from scraps that I already had

Grand Total: $75 Love it!!

Our tree on Christmas Eve 2011

Montessori Solar System

The girls have been learning a lot about Space! Their favorite activity has been playing with this Montessori inspired solar system that I made! Izzie can distinguish each planet by their physical appearance and she's learning a few simple facts about each. By playing with these felt planets, she's learned the correct sequence of the planets, starting from the sun!

Solar System created from fabric and felt.

Space with the Sun
I decided to glue the sun on the black fabric, instead of sewing. Unfortunately, where the fabric is thin, the glue is visible.

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Solar System with a silly Alien!!

Izzie enjoyed matching up the solar system flashcards (Target dollar aisle) to the correct planet.

I'm very pleased with the way the solar system turned out and love that the girls are having a blast playing and learning with it!

Mouse Count Felt Snake and Mice

My girls have been loving all the Ellen Walsh's books, especially Mouse Count. So, to help aid them in their recalling, I made them some story-props...a snake, 10 mice, and a rock! And, of course there's a collecting jar!

This little fella was made from one sock (my husband's) and felt for details.

I quickly sewed the 10 little mice together.

Hours of fun!

Felt Money

Have I mentioned that I love to shop at yard sales? Well, if I haven't...I do! I've found a ton of great learning resources this summer! I had been eying this Learning Resources Teaching Cash Register for a long time and was thinking about purchasing it for Izzie for Christmas this year. Thankfully, I found a fully functional one this summer for only $10...a little high for a yard sale, but I knew that it was worth it! And, of course I decided to go ahead and give it to the girls.

It came with everything! Money, coins, and the credit cards. This is such a neat learning cash register...the girls are truly "learning" from playing with it..I would highly recommend it!

Mac loves to play with it too...a little too much! She has destroyed several pieces of the money.

Izzie was becoming more and more frustrated with Mac. At first, I put the money away. But, quickly realized that punishing them was not the right solution for either. So, we agreed that Izzie was allowed to play with the paper money that came with the cash register and I would make Mac some money to play with too!

Mac's felt play money with coins! Completely Mac proof...I hope!


*Sorry for the fuzzy pictures. Unfortunately, I got sand in my camera at the beach, so it's currently nonfunctional...leaving me taking pictures with my phone!*