Children love playing with quiet books, and moms love how they inspire creative play. Here are 12 simple quiet book layouts to add to your fabric quiet book. From farm animals to pirate’s treasure, there is something for every age!
Our Quiet Book: 12 Layout Ideas
It’s happened! After almost 9 years of wanting to make a quiet book for my children, I have finally done it! And it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and it wasn’t as time consuming as I thought it would be! It could be because I’ve had layouts in my mind that I wanted to make for years, so it was just sitting down and putting them together.
A friend at church invited some of us young mothers to her house to browse through a couple of quiet books that she had when her children were young. It was a lot of fun and gave me some ideas the motivation that I needed to get started.
Some things that I would recommend for making a quiet book:
Minimal Velcro! Velcro is loud. It’s perfect for a busy book, but if this is going to church with you, I’d limit how much you use. I think I used it on one page.
Minimal Felt. Felt will pill over time. I used it in a few places, but for the most part I used cotton. Since cotton frays, I used a zig zag stitch to sew the fabric on without having to hem it. I used sturdy cotton for all of the pages. A large rectangle of it that I folded in half and made 2 pages on. Then I flipped it in-side-out, sewed up 3 sides, slid a thin layer of batting inside, and then sewed up the top and top stitched the entire thing (on my machine, no hand-sewing here….I’m horrible at it) and that created 2 pages. They are a bit bulky, but I was able to fit more pages into my book that way.
Puffy Paint/Fabric paint works well for adding details. Easier than hand stitching (although hand stitching would probably look better), and it dries within a couple of hours.
Eyelets are inexpensive and work great to bind the book with rings. This also allows you to take the book apart and add more pages or split it up among a few kids at a time if they all want to use it.
Here are the pages that I created. I don’t have patterns to share, but thought that this give you an idea if you are looking for some fun layouts. Just simple shapes. As you can see, I used a lot of scrap fabrics to create mine. It really helped me go through my stash and organize it. It also helped me create some schemes. I’d find a print I liked and I’d create a page to go around it.
Barnyard: I bought the wooden farm animals. 4 in a pack at Michael’s for $1. They are glued onto popsicle sticks.
Does it Fit?: My kids love all of the fun erasers that have come out. I used a ring one for this page.
Woodland Campout: This page is definitely one-of-a-kind. I asked the kids what they thought should be under the tent and they decided that a penguin in underwear would be funny. So I cut one out of a scrap piece of fabric. Definitely original. It says “Keep Out!” I made little fabric pockets and put woodland finger puppets inside. I’m not sure where I got them from. We’ve had them for years.
Train Tracks: Not my favorite, but it works. I used puffy paint and created a pocket with Velcro for the little train to be stored in.
Treasure Chest: My friend gave me a little lock and key for this one. She also had a cut out of a treasure box to use as a pattern. I put some fun things inside. It was a lot of fun to make this page!
Button Fish: The fish button onto the matching color and are stored in the fish bowl which is a pocket.
Jungle: I made a pocket out of some scrap flannel and added a zipper and felt leaves. Finger puppets (purchased at IKEA a few years ago) fit perfectly inside.
Insect Jar: Scrap vinyl worked perfectly for the “glass” on the jar. Wooden bugs (4/$1 at Michael’s) and a $1 magnifying glass.
Clothes Line: Mini clothespins and fleece cutouts. Store in fabric laundry basket.
Numbers/Shapes Flower: Each petal folds over. Numbers and shapes are revealed.
Mittens: Fleece mittens, left open on the bottom, for little hands to slide inside.
My Purse: The little fabric purse holds Kaylee’s felt make up perfectly.
Put together with rings and stored in a little tote bag, all ready to go. It isn’t perfect, by a long-shot, but it works for us!
You might like…
Here are some fun sensory and creative activities for kids that you might want to check out!
You have a great quiet book! I love the camping page. I especially like how you used non-fabric things throughout; especially on the barn page. I made a similar barn in my recent quiet book but I think I like yours better!
http://gratefullygrowingingrace.blogspot.com/2011/07/quiet-book-last-one.html
Oh this is wonderful! My kids would have loved to have one of these when they were little. I love all of the little details.
This is a brilliant creation! Imaginative and creative and yes I love that you could add on new ideas as needed.
Just saw this on TT&J–LOVE it!!! I’ve been wanting to make a quiet book for a while now also, but haven’t done one! Thanks for some inspiration!!
Wow! That looks awesome! Super creative and I love all the details.
Wow, certainly worth the wait! It’s adorable! Time to pin!
You did an amazing job!
I have always wanted to make one of these, but it seemed so daunting.
Now my girls are way too big for it, but maybe I can make one as a gift!
Thanks for the inspiration.
~Michelle
I love your book! Lot of work, I think, but the result is great!! Liz
Superlove this! Been wanting to make one for a while – thanks for sharing your awesome pages!
Oh wow, those are SUPER adorable!! I would love for you to share this (and any other creations) at “Pin It and Win It Wednesday” @ http://www.cheapcraftymama.com!
This is such a great post!! Thanks for sharing all these wonderful ideas for a quiet book! I’ve been wanting to make one of these for my children. Thanks so much! I pinned this!
sigh…this makes me wish i knew how to sew! love this book!
This is a great project! I could totally use some of these quiet books around my house. Would you consider linking it up to my Pinworthy Projects Linky Party over at Just Us Four?
This is a great project! Very ingenious!
That is the cutest quiet book I have ever seen!
so beautifful ! I admire your book:)
also feel invited to my page
http://marta-mojepasje.blogspot.com/2012/03/quiet-book-3.html?utm_source=BP_recent
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What a beautiful and creative book! I love it!
My son is 18 months so queit books have really been on my mind lately! I love this post! I blog over at http://www.2cratfy4myskirt.blogspot.com Every Friday I feature a fellow crafter. I would LOVE to feature you and this project in an upcoming Friday. If you are interested please let me know!
Alese Stewart
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These are so great! I’m pinning so I can get inspired sometime. Thanks!
Kristin
http://Www.exploringdomesticity.blogspot.com
I have been wanting to do some busy bags and quiet books for my kids. These are really cute ideas!
i am ALWAYS looking for new quiet book ideas. totally pinning:)
the book is beautiful !!!
that has to be the cutest baby book i have seen in years… thanks for all the work that went into to it, including the tutorial… i will be making this…
Thank you Carol! It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it!
I love how you don’t use felt real heavily. Most people it seems make the entire book out of felt, and I’m just not convinced it will hold up…Beautiful job!
Thank you Lisa! I’ve noticed with other projects that felt tends to pill too and look ratty over time so even though it was a little more work, zig sagging the cotton seemed to work well and it’s held up great so far! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!
Absolutely awesome! Thank you! 🙂
Could you please tell me how to attached the small eyelets or gourmetts to each page. I am to that part in making a quiet book, but I am haveing a lot of trouble the tools I need to finish it. Thank you so much.
Sure thing! The grommets I used game with a tool that I used. I used scissors to make a tiny hold, then set the grommet/eyelet front and back around that (sandwiching the fabric between) then used the tool with a hammer to set it correctly. Let me see if I can find a link that shows what I used: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YQMEUO?keywords=dritz%20grommet%20kit&qid=1446479319&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 I used smaller grommets, but this was the type of kit I bought. I has a small tool inside to help them snap together when hammered. Hope that helps!