Sewing Cards

My mother got Natalie a Melissa and Doug toy a lot like this one.  Natalie really enjoyed it, so I wanted to get her some simpler sewing cards she could use by herself.  Then I realized that sewing cards are pretty simple, so I might as well make some.  I didn't make it a priority to make, until I realized that if I made the card with some of her favorite characters, she would be much more likely to want to play with them.  That is when I remembered we had an unloved Maisy book hanging around.


What you need:
An old book
Card stock
Glue stick
Contact paper
Hole puncher
Yarn

What to do:
I cut out pictures from a book we got in a swap book at our play group.  Natalie loves Maisy, so I snatched this book without looking at it carefully.  Turns out it is a sticker book and the previous owner had already used the stickers, so it wasn't that fun to read.  So, I cut out as many pictures of Maisy as I could. 

Next, I mounted them on card stock to make them more durable.  I then stuck them down on contact paper.  Ideally, I would have laminated them, but I wasn't interested in spending the money and I was looking to make this new activity for a weekend at my parents'. 

I then punched holes around the outside.  Be careful  not to make them too close to the edge. 

To make the thread for the sewing cards, I simply braided some yarn to make it thicker.  I needed something that would have a big enough knot on the end not to slip through the hole.  I wrapped the other end with masking tape to make it easy for her to poke through the holes. 

I made these as a surprise for Natalie, but she probably could have helped quite a bit.  This craft has great cutting, gluing, and squeezing opportunities for fine motor skills.  One of your older children could make it for a younger child.