We’re back home from our week long vacation, and now I finally have the time to blog about my big project. I made a quiet book for Buddy to play with on the plane. I found so many great ideas for quiet book pages on Pinterest, and I was able to come up with some of my own ideas as well.

Here is a quick overview of each of my pages. Please comment if you would like me to give more details on how I created each one.

Monster Peek a Boo Page

This one I made up on my own. I saw two cute waving monster iron-on patches at Jo Ann Fabrics, and Buddy really liked them. They reminded me a little of the monsters from Monsters Inc., which made me think about putting them behind doors. One opens from the bottom, and one opens from the side. I used an embroidery stitch on my sewing machine to add some interest to each door. I ironed the monsters on the felt by putting a thin pressing cloth on top of the felt. I also used glittery fabric paint for the writing. Buddy enjoyed playing peek a boo with both monsters.

Jellyfish Page

There are a ton of pages similar to this one on Pinterest. I added a part of a cereal bag behind the jellyfish to make it crinkly. (I know it’s a quiet book, but Buddy loves things that make noise.) I used scotch tape to hold the jellyfish legs in place before I sewed them down. I used fabric glue to hold on the google eyes and puffy fabric paint for the smile and numbers. Buddy really enjoyed sliding the beads up and down each leg.

Wheels on the Bus Page

Buddy’s favorite song is Wheels on the Bus, and we have a pop up book of the song that he loves. He especially loves spinning the wheels in that book, but unfortunately they are paper, so they bend easily. I wanted to make a similar page in the quiet book that he wouldn’t be able to break. The wheels are  made of an extra firm felt. They are removable, and they can spin. The headlight is a button, and the rest of the bus was made using this pattern. Buddy enjoyed spinning the wheels, but not as much as he does in the book at home.

Who is in the Grass Page

I saw a similar idea on Pinterest, but there wasn’t a pattern or template for it. I bought a bunch of cute buttons to go in the grass (bunnies, lady bugs, and ducks). I cut the grass in strips and sewed them on the background before I stitched the buttons in the grass. I used puffy paint for the writing. Buddy really likes this page, but he wants to pull the buttons off the page.

Dog Finger Puppets Page

I saw pages of farm animal finger puppets, and I realized how much Buddy would love puppets that were dogs. (He loves dogs!) I found a free template for the finger puppets here. I originally wanted to use my sewing machine to put the dogs together, but I found that hand stitching worked better. I used fabric glue to hold the fence together, and then I used my machine to sew the perimeter onto the background. This was Buddy’s favorite page by far. He loves those little dogs.

I put all of the pages on binder rings so that I can add to the book next summer (or whenever I find time to make more pages). For now, I’ll save this book for our trips or times when I need Buddy to be quiet and seated for awhile. It’s not perfect, but overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.