Quiet Book Post

It's taken me some time, but here it is...
Here's my old post about quietbooks.  Here's the blog that initially inspired me to get to work.  And here and here are the 2 blogs that reminded me to post what I've done. 

One of the cover pages, my play-on-words with Facebook. 

Old school telephone
The dial spins and the handset is magnetic.
The Clock
It's hands also spin and I'm thinking of adding some time flash-cards to make it more fun for older kiddos.

 

Tic-Tac-Toe
The pieces store in the back of the game board, it's like a pocket.
The zoo
This one was inspired by Mimi's love of animals and the fabric I found that made this page very easy.  The fabric was covered in animals & blue squares.  I just cut them out and sewed up the sides to make mini-finger-puppets.  They also store in the back of the zoo, like a pocket.

Jack-O-Lantern
I made a bunch of eyes, noses and mouths that can be changed around to make a silly pumpkin face.  Again, the pumpkin serves as pocket for loose parts.
Snaps 
I found this super-small, preemie shirt at the 2nd-hand store and thought it would be much easier then sewing on a bunch of snaps. So when Mimi started trying to put a doll in the shirt, it made me think we need a dress up page...

Kite
Just a ribbon to learn how to tie a bow. 
Mailbox
I saw this on one of the MANY quiet book sites and HAD to make one.  The kiddos love this page, and it's fun to find old letters from the past weeks in the mailbox.

Ice Cream
Velcro the small-to-big sized scoops of ice cream.  Of course my crazy kiddos put them on upside-down just for fun.
Apple Tree
Snap off the apples and collect them in the basket.  Mimi:"But apples don't snap onto trees!  Twist and pull!  Twist and pull!  That's how you get apples off a tree!"

Weave a tower
Simple idea and easy to make, but TOUGH for those little hands to maneuver--yeah for fine motor skills!  
Rocket to the stars!
The rocket zips up and down on the ribbon.

Math

I wanted a page that was just for Parker, but Mimi gets a kick out of it too.  Again, the blue felt serves as a pocket for all the numbers. 

Road

This is supposed to have a Matchbox car in the garage, but of course it's missing most of the time.

Dino Count

Also inspired by Mimi, she loves Dinosaurs!  As the Dino's move from one side to the other, the child is supposed to count them out.  I think I'd like to add more to this page, like, say the numbers...

Button Flowers

This is a classic quietbook page.  But I liked the idea of having the flowers be different kinds of flowers, instead of all being daises for example.  So I made an Iris, Tulip, Daisy (of course), Poppy, and a Rose.  The thread and felt are so similar, so you can't see the sweet, little petals, but up close the flowers are more defined.  I just used spare buttons.  This is one of my favorite pages.  

While researching ideas for this book I came across so many variations on the same ideas.  I was amazed at how many button flower pages, old school telephones, roads, and apple trees there are out there.  It makes me think there must have been some original pattern used by a bunch of craft-ers some years ago.  And then over time, as children remembered their quietbooks from their youth, they recreated them, but used new ideas mixed with the old ones.  Why else would all the phones be rotary?  There wasn't a single cell phone found in the dozens of quietbooks I've seen.  Felt and rick-rack were almost always used.  This cannot be a coincidence.  If anyone has any answers/clues please share!  Or if anyone has some more ideas, let me know.  I'd also like to hear any other quietbook memories that are out there.  

I have about 50 more ideas so I want to make more.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Summer just doesn't get me motivated to do almost anything.  But here are some ideas (some classic, some new, some I gleaned from other peoples' blogs, and some I've morphed into my own ideas from many other ideas, I can't take full credit for anything really--except maybe my clever cover page.)

• Peek-a-boo
• Buckle
• Superhero page
• Snowman
• Leaves on a tree
• Fishing pole
• Dress ups
• Garden
• Clothesline
• Dog house

And so much more!