I am pretty excited about today’s project. You see we have a problem in our house. My kids love flash cards, we use them everyday and it’s great! (I mean kids that like to learn?? Awesome!) However the card stock flash cards get bent, chewed on, ripped, and anything else that happens to paper when children are involved. SO I decided to make some soft flash cards. A while back I made a quiet book for my kids, so I used the same method to make the cards. (so if you would rather put these in book form you totally could) This project did take a little while not really a nap time craft but after a nap time and two evenings of work they were done and I could not be happier, and my kids love them! (not that the time factor should scare you they are easy to make just a little time consuming.)
To start I cut out 26 4 inch squares out of different colors of fabric. I used  4 colors (4 fat quarters) 6 of each color and 7 of two of the colors. (you can do it however you like) Also cut 26 4 inch squares out of felt. (the picture shows the how I used pinking shears around the edge, I recommend doing that last since I did it first and it was hard to match up my layers at the end so do it last if at all) Then I used freezer paper to make my alphabet stencil. Do you want the letters I used? Follow the links and download away…A-I
J-R
S-Z
 
Trace the letters on to freezer paper, then cut them out and iron them on to the fabric squares.

Then using fabric paint paint inside the stencil.

Then peel back your stencil and you are done with the front

Place a square of felt with each fabric square

Then I cut out images that start with each letter out of felt. And I sewed them (using my machine for the most part since it is fastest) to the square of felt. Most of the pictures I just cut free hand but some I found pictures on the internet as my guide, I would share them with you but most I am sure have copyrights and I don’t want to mess with that. I just used the easiest images I could think of. Here is the list of words I used if that helps
A-apple, B-ball, C-car, D-doll, E-elephant, F-fish, G-grapes, H-horse, I-ice cream, J-jelly fish, K-kite, L-lemon, M-mickey mouse, N-nest, O-orange, P-penguin, Q-quilt, R-rose, S-snail, T-tiger, U-umbrella, V-vine, W-whale, X-xylophone Y-yo-yo Z-zebra.

Then sew the felt square with the picture on them to the fabric squares.

Then you are done. Easy right? It’s a labor of love. (but so are our kids right?)

Here are the backs of cards with the pictures (blurry sorry) 
You can play a lot of fun games with the cards, with my youngest(18 months) we are getting to know the letters so I call out a letter and she finds it. With my oldest (3.5 years) we spell out simple words and sentences. I will also flip them all over the the pictures and have him tell me what each one starts with. 

With one set of letters it limits some of the things you can spell but there are still plenty of words you can spell and with them being soft and cuddly the fun never ends.
(and yes you can see how the layers did not match up eventually I will re-cut the edge so they match but for now the kids were desperate to play with them)

Enjoy!
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