Shhh...Quiet Books!

In an attempt to keep my children occupied with quiet activities while we are at church, travelling, etc. this week, I've been busy making these Quiet Books.  My goal was to create something that could be easily added to/changed in order to keep it interesting for them and here's what I came up with:

Sorry for not providing a full tutorial on this.  It was one of those projects that I wanted to finish quickly but it wasn't difficult, so I'll try to be descriptive enough about what I did.

For the covers of the books, I measured out my fabric (it's three layers thick) about 4 cm larger than the album refill pages on the inside (two of the polka dotted fabric, and one quilted polyester to give it a bit of added structure and heaviness).  Then I sewed the layers (polka dots facing each other with quilted layer behind them) and left the bottom open.  Flipped it right side out and topstitched/sewed the bottom closed.  The binding is grosgrain ribbon threading through small buttonholes.

For the personalized titles, I stamped ribbon with these letters using Tulip fabric markers.

I used these album refill pages for the inside.  This is favourite part because I can fill these pages with different activities, and the children can draw/write on them using dry erase markers.  Stickers also remove and reapply easily.



Here are the pages.  You can see what my little ones are really into these days.  With Tobias, it's all about Little Einsteins and Dot-to-Dots.

I had intended for Tobias to match the letter to the animal sticker using markers, but he wanted to move them.  Whatever, as long as he had fun!

 I got the idea for the gel filled bag from here.

Anja loves animals and In the Night Garden.

First thing in the morning, I couldn't wait to show Tobias & Anja their books...and they couldn't wait to use them!