a boy post..tutorial

Let me start off by saying I love to buy my kids toys. But their idea of what is a good buy and my idea of a good buy are two totally different things! They always want the latest craze..but I often find these toys don't get played with over the long run because they don't engage their imagination. Those are the toys I love to buy. I love my kids to play with things that can be played with in many different situations. I want them to use their imaginations to be creative. I love when we can go a whole morning where they are coming up with situations to play with just a few toys in hand. With that in mind let me tell you about my boys.

My boys are B.O.Y.S. Do you know what I mean? They would love nothing more than to get up every morning and play in dirt and mud and make messes all day long. They love to wrestle, they love to EAT, and they LOVE TO PLAY THE COMPUTER.

Awhile ago, they came up to me and asked if they could play "office". Their only request is that they could use my laptop to play with. Then came the quick "no" and then they asked they question, "Well, what can I use for a laptop then?"

Thus prompted this project and so I introduce: The felt laptop!

To get started you will need 3- 8 1/2x11 sheets of felt in blue, 1 - 8 1/2x11 sheet of felt in orange, 2 stiff sheets of felt in white, a sewing machine with thread, embroidery thread, rub-on letters, and a hot glue gun.

Let me also add this disclaimer.  If you don't sew, use hot glue to put everything together. Have you ever tried to take 2 pieces of felt apart that were put together with hot glue? Almost impossible!  AND use what you have around your house..If your laptop ends up with 12 colors..even better!  I also realize you could sew this up in any color and make it for a GIRL too!:)  Which makes it even better, right?!

Step1: Take 2 pieces of blue felt and 1 piece of stiff white felt and sandwich the stiff felt in the soft felt.

Step 2: Sew all around the edges and one line down the center of the sheet.

Step 3: Cut one white and one orange 6 1/2x5" rectangle. Sew it on the top and bottom halves of your blue computer.

Step 4: Cut 2- 1" by 4 1/2" rectangles from your blue felt. Fold each of them in half and sew a rectangle around the edge. You will then sew them onto your computer on each side, 1" up from the middle and 2"down from the middle, thus making it sit open when you open it up.

Step 5: Cut at least 36 -3/4" square white rectangles from the stiff felt. Get your rub-ons out and rub on a letter or number onto each square. If you want to add more keys, do it! I added the two extra pieces of punctuation which I think kids use most often. Everything is always SO exciting...and thus the (!). And there are ALWAYS plenty of questions....thus the (?).:) I also added a space bar key. Layout the letters/numbers/extras as you like them then hot glue them in to place.

Step 6: Now you are ready to add as much detail as you want. I chose to add a mouse. (2 1/2x6" blue rectangle folded in half, sewed and stuffed and sewed a ribbon in to attach to the computer as a cord) I also added the right and left click buttons on the mouse. I put handles on....(2-8 1/2x4" rectangles folded in half and sewn around the edges and sewn right on to the computer) and I added the "x" on the screen by cutting a small white rectangle, a slightly larger black rectangle and using embroidery thread, made a red "x".

Step 7: You are done! And what will your boys learn to do with this computer....Well, for starters you can teach them all about boy things:

How to save the world:

Most importantly, they can learn and imagine ANYTHING in the world! And it's super fun to listen to them do it!:)

ALL that, in just a tiny little package.  I'd say it's a keeper!

This is one of my little guys in his "office". It is complete with his "No Smoking" sign, his "lamp"..made from a big rig and a musical instrument, his best buddy stuffed animal "Skunkers", and of course, all offices must have their "No Horses" sign.