Tuesday, July 9, 2013

craftiness: a quiet book


A few months ago I had the bright idea of making a quiet book for the Babes, to keep him occupied at Mass and doctors appointments and other places that frown at a toddler running around shrieking.

Then I fell down the rabbit hole that is the internet, and Pinterest.  Let's just say that there are some crazy complex work of art quiet book pages out there.

Anyways, since the Babes has a talent for destruction, and I am working with limited craft supplies, I just kept it as simple as I could.  It still took me 2 months to make 6 pages though :)


This book caters to the Babe's obsessions.  He loves bunnies, and for a while we brought a box of  our baby bunnies inside each night to keep them warm.  Every morning we were roused to the call of BUNNY?  BUNNY?!!  These are bunny finger puppets, I used the tutorial from here.  They live in their little box.


Next is the counting page, which is too complex for the Babes at this point.  He likes to try and destroy this page though, so there is that.


Matching shapes and tying bows.....


and to make it Belizean, here are wee-wee ants (or leaf cutter ants, as the rest of the world knows them).  The leaves velcro on the tree, and are stored in the ant hill :) 


Finally, to fuel the Babes' obsession with pockets, this is a pocket off one of Daniel's old work shirts.  There are ribbons inside so I can change the contents around to fit  his current interests.

I really love how it turned out.  The Babes?  Sooooo not interested.  This fits the pattern we have established-- when I put some beans in a can and tape it closed with duct tape, he plays with the thing for months.  When I spend hours on something, he turns his little tiny nose up at it.  The joys of 2 year olds :)

2 comments:

  1. The end of your post totally made me laugh. Here's why:: As I started reading I thought, 'geez, I really should make one of those.... buuuut if I did my kiddo(s) would check it out once then toss it.' So I admired all of your work and thoughtfulness and marveled that it was a success... until I read the end!!! It's so totally perfectly true. Yesterday I gave Lila an empty cereal box. It's by far the most successful toy I've given her (minus the empty milk jug.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A few days a go I gave the Babes a bowl of water with a few drops of food coloring and a spoon. That got a solid 45 minutes of intense play. Ah, kids.

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