I have been playing with felt lately in my quest to make a quiet book (my very first) based on fine motor and life skill development. That book is doing very well and is almost done. With my youngest turning 2 next month I thought to make her her own quiet book filled with things that would interest her.
Update: It has been a very long time (3+ years!) since I made this quiet book! It is still holding up well despite a few missing apple loose pieces.(I need to replace them!) It is a much handled book and was well worth the make!
Update again!: I now have a video tutorial!! See the bottom of this post!
This is how to make a quiet book the no sew way.
To make a quiet book you will need.
- A shape to trace or measurements for your desired size felt pages (I used a broken board book)
- pen / marker
- felt of a base color (light green in mine)
- scissors
- hot glue gun or equivalent glue
- velcro for securing books tab (I used a velcro dot)
Firstly decide on how many pages you are going to make. Then measure or trace the pages and cut them out. I have used a broken potty training board book as it was a great size and made a rather nice quiet book template.
Also cut a cover for your book by adding a spine between 2 page. Don’t cut alone the spine.
Heat up the glue gun and get ready to assemble your blank quiet book. What I wanted to do here was have a nice page fold that would hold up to toddlers pulling. I went with hot gluing each page together first.
1. Line up your page.
2. Gently fold over the page and squeeze out a line of hot glue along the edge.
3. Flip the page back and press together to ensure good glue contact between the 2 pages.
4. Line up the next page on top of the two you just glued and repeat step 2 and 3 until all are glued together.
You now have a secured sandwich of felt pages and are ready to make a quiet book!
Bring out your cover and make a glue line next to the spine to attach the pages to the cover in the same way you did above.
Zigzag the glue along the stack of pages, close the cover and firmly press the spine to get a smooth effect.
You can see below an example of pressing the spine. Open the book and add another line of glue to the first page near spine to get a closed and neat look to your first page, just like the rest of the book!
I had to trim my cover and a few pages once I was done to get an even look. Lastly fit the books tab and glue it to the back of the book. I have not added my felt dot for the front yet as I want to wait to see how fat the book is going to turn out before I secure the tab to close.
And there we have it! An empty felt book all ready for you to fill full of fascinating things for your little one!
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Other Quiet Books I’ve made!
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How to make a no sew quiet book video tutorial:
Have you ever made a felt quiet book? How did it turn out, any tips and tricks to share on how to make a quiet book?
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Root says
Hi.I have such fond memories of my quiet time book from when I was a child. I would take it everywhere! I’m hopeless with the sewing machine so I have checked out some on etsy to purchase. I look forward to seeing your ideas to finish the book. Perhaps it is within my ability levels! Thanks for sharing!
Ashley says
Thank you for that feedback!
Ivy says
What does this mean “Velcro for securing books tab”?
Powerful Mother Support says
Hi Ivy. The velcro is for the tab that keeps the book closed. If you want to keep it closed, you can use velcro to do this. I hope this helps
Victoria riley says
thank you so much for having a video!! I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making one of these and I am a visual learner so the video was amazing for me!! You’re so good at making them and making the instructions simple! I very much appreciate it. 🙂
Angela Richardson says
can you tell me what thickness felt you used please
Nicolette Roux says
it is normal felt. You can go thicker for more handleability though!
Jen says
Hi…It’s Great idea
I’m trying to do
I have a query
it’s fabric or paper
Nicolette Roux says
this is all felt (material / fabric)
Liza says
Love your posts! Thank you!
Amanda C says
It has been a while since this original post. How did the hot glue hold up? I am concerned that the pieces will pull apart easily. Thanks!
Nicolette Roux says
yes! it is still going strong!
Gargi says
O man, I am so in love with this book and will surely try to make it for my 13 months old son. The only problem is he puts everything in his mouth first and tries to swallow..
Nicolette Roux says
My 13 month also does this!!
I made this quiet book for my then 2 year old. I have actually almost completed a quiet book for the younger ones (like our 13 month olds!) I will try to share it soon!
Gargi says
Great, can’t wait for it… Thanks for prompt reply 🙂
Amy says
I’m actually thinking about making an altered version as a baby book (for me and my sister-in-law). Many of the activities will have to be altered or completely changed because of the age discrepancy, but the techniques will be SO useful! I was thinking about making something with just general shapes/animals/colors for the babes and I figure I can make a few flip up pages or something. Definitely NO detachable parts yet, lol! But when the time comes for new ones I can’t wait to use all of your ideas. Have you seen the felt fishing? I don’t know where my friend found it, but she just used magnets, sticks, string, and cut out felt fish. That could be a cute page too. Thanks again for all the wonderful ideas!
Nicolette Roux says
That is great!! I am actually busy making my 10 month old a lift the flap / peek book right now! 🙂
Natali says
Hi,
Would like to ask which glue gun is suitable for creating this felt book at home?
20W or 80W?
Thanks
Natali.
Nicolette Roux says
The one I used is a 20W
Mirella says
Love it… But I have a question..dont the felt objects like apples, shapes become too soft to hold in the hand. Are they double layered? I feel like my child will just squeesh them in her hand. Also what isvthe ideal age to introduce this..
Nicolette Roux says
depends on your child. mine was made for her 2nd birthday.. so I suggest 22 months perhaps? if you have a parts eater it might have to be supervised! Also the apples have velcro hot glued onto the back which makes the apples very sturdy.
Jessica @ Curious Chickadee says
Thank you so much! You made me realize it was possible to create a beautiful Quiet Book without a sewing machine. I just finished my very first one! I wrote an article about it on my blog if someone’s interested.
Nicolette Roux says
LOVE IT!!! Some great ideas too
Margaret Sonnemann says
Sorry but which temp glue gun and glue? We have a choice of high or low temp in Australia.
Nicolette Roux says
Mine would be a high temp one. I would test out the low temp one if you already have it on some scrap felt.
Maria Mustaklem says
Hi Nicolette !! Thanks a lot for this super easy tutorial !!! I really enjoyed making this quiet book twice for my daughter and my nephew.. I wanted to ask do you mind if I re-blog about it on my blog motherhoodandmore.net ??
Nicolette Roux says
Thank you! I am glad you liked it! I dont mind one picture with proper link credit for re-sharing on a blog 🙂 If you are sharing the one you made share away but link to me for the instructions. Thanks!
Jessica says
I found your directions very confusing. do you have a tutorial video?