Friday, September 30, 2011

Thinking Thursdays: Croc gets a home (How to sew a river scene)

Yup, Mr Croc has a new riverine property: his very own riverbed.  I thought I'd try to make a felt play scene for the boy to go with his new reptile pet (click here to get instructions on how to make your own croc), so I dug out those rolls of felt I had sitting in the cupboard and got to work with a scissors.  Making the playscene is quite straight-forward, you would just need a large piece of brown felt for the base (I bought all my felt from Daiso, of course, you could buy nicer felt, but I just used whatever I had at hand).  Then you'll need to cut out a windy river and sew it down:

I was trying to recall my Secondary school geography, and only could remember about meanders and ox-bow lakes... so I added one little ox-bow lake in just for fun!

Cut out grass, or whatever kind of vegetation you would like to have around the river, using green felt.  Sew the base down, so you can ruffle everything up, such that they stand up to give a nice 3D effect:


Then cut out pebbles using grey felt.  Mine were sewn down for the bottom-half only, so that they form pockets where you can hide stuff like other animals or perhaps little yummies for your riverine friends:


Then collect all sorts of river related stuff like pebbles, and scatter them around:


Voila!  One happy croc, and probably one happy child!  (Mine got up from his nap and saw the scene, and instead got very UPSET because Mama had sewn on flat FAKE pebbles on.  He tried to rip them off because he only wanted real pebbles!)


It was quite fun working with felt.  I'm not a good seamstress (you can see all my messy sewing there!), but felt's great to work with since it doesn't fray.  Hopefully this play scene will lend itself to some hours of creative play... I'm hoping to use it with his other animal figurines, and perhaps use it to teach geography next time!

Oh, and the croc books that we're loving currently are:



We recently started reading the last title, and I was quite surprised since the boy actually sat through the entire book!

Ok, gotta run and cook dinner... meanwhile, do share if you have any fav croc-related books!  Have a blessed weekend!

PS: The "Art Adventures" page has been updated, so hop over if you're looking for ideas for crafting with kids!

5 comments:

  1. This post is timely as I am going to make a grass patch complete with paths n what's not for Mandy's dollhouse so her bunny and cat can go out and have picnics instead of staying inside the stuffy house. I guess you can call it a countryside scene or creek? Hmm. Ha. You gave me a lot of ideas. I suck at sewing though. If I need help, will ask you ok? Btw, the river scene is fantastic!

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  2. Oh wow! That's a really cool project. There's going to be so many stories to be acted out on that felt piece. I remember when I was a kid, I made a road safety park map kind of thing and had tons of fun driving cars and walking people on it!

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  3. K: Hey cool, that'll be nice, its for that lovely Sylvanian dollhouse right? Sure, just drop me an email if anything, but felt's actually really easy to work with, since I'm quite a bad seamstress!

    The Chia Family: Thanks for sharing! That gives me an idea for another felt play scene... :)

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  4. I absolutely love this idea! I can think of so many possibilities from this. I have a whole bunch of felt (from Daiso too) from my corsage making days that I could use! And as much as you say you don't have good sewing skills, I think coming up with this during naptime is just fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  5. Corsage: Haha, Daiso really rocks when it comes to providing craft materials on a shoestring! Am looking forward to seeing what you make!

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