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Travel felt board set: one-hour tutorial + free printable templates!

May 23, 2016 by Meg 11 Comments

If you’re traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a super quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. Less than one hour to make and under five dollars…you can’t beat that!

If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!
Note: This post includes affiliate links. See my disclosure to learn more.

Summer is going to be here soon, and for lots of families that means VACATIONS! I love to travel. I get a thrill out of seeing new places and experiencing different cultures, even within my own country.

Traveling with two kids under four can be tricky, but it really is doable. With kids three and under, we’ve gone to Vancouver, Disneyland, San Francisco, and Boston. We’ve done thirteen-hour car rides and five-hour plane rides. It takes planning, but travel with little kids can be a lot of fun.

One of my tricks for managing travel with little kids (aside from Dum Dums and watching movies on the iPad…survival mode, people) is having a stash of special activities that the kids have never done before…or that they do rarely.

Last fall we took a week-long trip to New England. I have always wanted to see the changing leaves there, and the stars aligned, so we went! Hooray! Except for the cross-country flight with two little kids it took to get us there.

Before we went, I made a travel felt board for Little Man to play with on the plane. I love this travel board! I found the original idea for it on Etsy, but the listing is gone now, and I’ve never seen a tutorial for one like this, so I thought I’d share how I made it. It took me less than an hour to make the basic set and it cost less than three dollars!

  1. It’s easy and cheap to make. Making the board and my basic set of shapes to play with took me less than an hour. To make the more detailed sets takes a little more time, but it’s a good activity to do while you watch TV. Cost for my materials was less than $3.00. I bought shoelaces for $3.00, but you only need one per felt board, so that’s only $1.50. Felt is often on sale for 25 cents a sheet, so that’s only 50 cents for the board, and then 25 cents more for each color you need to buy to make your play shapes. Can’t beat that!
  2. It’s super portable. When I’m traveling, I want to pack as little as possible. So, any toys and activities I take have to be small, and they have to be worth the space they take up. This travel board rolls up small and is light-weight so Little Man can carry it in his own backpack.
  3. It’s reversible. Two sides means two different background colors, which makes it more fun to play with multiple felt sets. I made one side light blue to look like sky. The other side is a darker blue that makes a great ocean.
  4. It has a nifty pocket. Pockets are fun…and practical. Because you only sew three sides of the felt board, the whole thing is essentially one big pocket that you can use to store the felt pieces when you’re not playing with them. I love having an easy way to keep everything together. Plus, it’s easy to slide a book inside the pocket while you play to create a hard surface. I take books when we travel anyway, so it’s not anything extra to pack!If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!

Little Man has gotten so much use out of this little set. If you want to make your own, here’s what you’ll need.

Travel Felt Board

Note: These are my ABSOLUTE favorite scissors for sewing. They’re a bit pricey, but they’re worth EVERY penny. I keep mine put away where my kids can’t get to them and ruin them by using them on paper, and they’re still super sharp after more than five years of use. 

Materials:

  • 2 felt sheets (9×12) in the colors of your choice (I did light blue and bright blue)
  • 1 shoelace
  • sewing machine and thread (If you’re not inclined to sewing, I’m pretty sure you could totally do this with hot glue, but I haven’t actually tried it.)
  • straight pins
  • scissors
  • felt scraps in assorted colors for making your shapes/play sets
  • shape templates
  • pen/pencil
  • freezer paper & iron (optional…I love THIS tutorial that explains how you can use freezer paper to make cutting felt easy-peasy.)If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!

Directions:

  1. Place your two sheets of felt on top of each other. Line them up carefully. Pin (or skip the pinning if you’re lazy like me an able to overcome your perfectionist tendencies in the name of saving time).
  2. Fold your shoelace in half and place between the two sheets of felt
    If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!
  3. Sew around THREE sides of your felt board, leaving one of the short sides open.
    Note: If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can use hot glue or fabric glue instead.
  4. And, you’re done with the felt board! Wahoo for simple projects.
    If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!
  5. To make your felt pieces to play with on the board, simply choose your colors of felt, cut out the downloadable templates below, trace onto the felt (or use the freezer paper method HERE), and cut them out. I like to keep the felt pieces for each set in little baggies and slip them into the pocket before rolling up the board for storage. Voila!

Here are the downloadable templates I made for my own travel board, plus links to additional sets I’ve designed over the years. Enjoy!
If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!

Back Yard Fun Template (Free Printable!)

If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!
If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!

Creative Shapes Template (Free Printable!)

If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!

Want MORE felt play sets for your travel felt board? Try these!

  • “Under the Sea” felt play set
  • “Birthday Wishes” cupcake felt play set
  • “Silly Jack-o-lantern” Halloween felt play set

I hope these give you and your little ones lots of fun creative play time (and maybe give you a few minutes of peace on your next plane ride).

Happy Traveling!

P.S. – What other types of travel felt board sets would you like to see templates for? A race track? An alphabet?  The sky (and my limited drawing ability) is the limit!

If you're traveling with kids, this travel felt board is a quick DIY craft that makes a great activity for kids stuck on a plane or in a car. It costs less than five dollars, takes less than an hour to make, and will save your sanity when you're on the go with little ones this summer!

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Filed Under: Crafts & Activities Tagged With: felt board, tips for traveling with kids, Travel, tutorial

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maria

    May 26, 2016 at 11:49 am

    As always this is brilliant, Megan! My daughter loves felt boards and have been known to play with them for hours at our local library! I’m definitely pinning this to share 🙂 Thank you for joining us this week on #shinebloghop. Always such a pleasure to have you!

    Reply
    • Meg

      May 26, 2016 at 7:33 pm

      Thanks, Maria! My Little Man loves to play with this toy, and I just couldn’t keep it to myself, so I’m glad you like it.

      Reply
  2. Marian Greeney

    September 6, 2017 at 5:58 pm

    Have you done a travel set for Christmas? Decorate the tree with ornaments and lights. Star on top. Gifts for under the tree

    Reply
  3. Ali

    July 13, 2018 at 8:02 pm

    Thank you for sharing this. It has kept my four kids busy during school holidays. ?

    Reply
  4. Debra

    April 19, 2020 at 7:28 am

    Love this felt board! I decided I am going to make one for my Samaritan Purse Christmas Shoebox for a boy 2-4 years old. I’ve been making shoeboxes for kids for a few years now and decided this will be a great gift. I was going to go with making a felt board out of a diy DVD cassette that I saw online but the felt board would be too small as would the pieces. I like your way much better. And, the felt pieces don’t have to be too small. I was thinking using your ocean templates and your house templates and maybe finding some dinosaur ones as well. Thank you so much! Wish me good luck!

    Reply
    • Meg

      April 21, 2020 at 1:49 pm

      I’m so glad you like it, and it makes me happy to know you’re going to use it to bring joy to someone who could REALLY use it!

      Reply
      • Debra

        April 21, 2020 at 2:02 pm

        Thank you so much! ?

        Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Travel felt board: "Under the Sea" play set (free printable templates) - The Many Little Joys says:
    June 13, 2016 at 6:05 am

    […] Last month, I shared with you all a fun DIY project that’s perfect for traveling with kids this summer (or for restaurants, church, and any other time that you need your kiddos to be occupied and quiet). If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read more here. […]

    Reply
  2. Travel felt board: "Silly Jack-o-lantern" play set (free printable templates) - The Many Little Joys says:
    September 28, 2016 at 6:06 am

    […] hours over the last six months since I made it. If you don’t have your own yet, you can read more here about the basic set or you can get the “Under the sea” themed set […]

    Reply
  3. Travel Felt Board: "Birthday Wishes" cupcake play set (with free printable templates) - The Many Little Joys says:
    May 9, 2017 at 7:56 am

    […] countless hours over the last year since I made it. If you don’t have your own yet, you can read more here about the basic set or you can get the “Under the sea” themed set (most popular) […]

    Reply
  4. Easy DIY felt boards and busy bags says:
    June 9, 2017 at 10:10 pm

    […] Travel felt board – Backyard fun from The many little joys […]

    Reply

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