Fun with Felt

"Grandma! Grandpa! Hurry! The show's about to start!"

The dining room hummed with the energy of opening night backstage on Broadway. Seven-year-old Jackson arranged and re-arranged props as his younger brothers, Nolan and Aaron, huddled close, ready to help.

Seated in the next room, a small ancestral crowd gathered to see the boys' rendition of Eric Carle's classic story THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, as told in felt fabric.

Like tiny salesmen on casual dress day, the boys steadied a felt-covered poster board onto an easel. Jackson cleared his throat, a copy of the book in his hands.

"In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf..."

As he turned the page, Nolan and Aaron eagerly grabbed the leaf and egg from the felt background as Jackson positioned a yellow and orange sun for the next scene.

A few weeks earlier, I'd noticed a display based on Carle's book at my younger son's preschool, featuring pieces of fruit from the story stuck to a felt-covered piece of poster board. Curious, I plucked one of the caterpillar's plums, noticing how the felt pieces naturally adhered to the felt background.

A felt storytelling project was perfect for my kids — simple, colorful, and tactile.

We hit the craft store, where the boys marveled at the variety of colors of felt and I marveled at how cheap each sheet was. I practically jumped up and clicked my heels to find pre-cut pieces of felt mounted to poster board, saving me the step of gluing large pieces to sturdy backing.

We cut shapes for every scene in the book, from the little egg on the leaf to the scene where the caterpillar eats a deli's worth of food to the grand finale where the results of his gluttony come to fruition. The division of labor came easily: I traced the basic shapes, Jackson cut them out with a pair of fabric scissors, and Nolan and Aaron glued smaller pieces together with kid-safe fabric glue.

The boys decided to make their artwork into performance art and planned a show for their grandparents' next visit. After a few practice runs, their debut received thunderous applause and rave reviews.