ABC Quiet Book

Okay, we get a double post today - that is my offering for disappearing for so long...

I'm making a wonderful, lovely gift for Little L right now. Is it because I'm a awesome, cool Mommy? Not really...it's mostly for self preservation reasons! You see, long car trips and restaurant visits are getting to be a little trying for Little L. I've decided that she needs something to keep her busy in these situations and a nice Mommy-made quite book seemed just the thing.

In case you have no clue what a Quite book is, here are some great examples from other Mommy bloggers:

A beautiful and imaginative book by Homemade By Jill:

Some very cute ideas from J Squared Plus K:

Of course, you could just buy one:














But, for me, the fun is all in making it!

I started with all sorts of nifty ideas and wondered "...how can I do all of these?" and then it hit me - ALPHABET BOOK!!

Now, I've seen some cloth alphabet books that look really pretty, but don't really do anything. I want this to be a serious keep-the-baby-busy kinda' book, so each page has to be interactive. Based on the things Little L is interested in now, here is what I've come up with:

A - Africa - A giraffe with removable spots, a "taggie" tactile lion, a lift the flap rock hiding a snake.
B - Bears - Bears holding blocks with a number of dots to be matched to a felt number.
C - Clock - Clock with moving hands, pouch with time cards with times to move the hands to.
D - Dressing - Cloth doll with clothing to dress in. Clothing hangs from clothesline, held on by tiny cloths pins.
E - Eggs - Patterned eggs - match one half to second half.
F - Farm - Animal finger puppets inside lift-the-flap barn.
G - Garden - Button-on flowers, lift the flaps for insects, butterfly with movable wings.
H - Hearts - Match felt hearts in colours by pair.
I - Ice Cream - Sequence largest to smallest scoops.
J - Jack-o-lantern - Make faces with felt pieces.
K- Kangaroo - Kangaroo with baby in pouch, moving tree climbing koala, lift-the-flap platypus with. eggs.
L - Letters - Match alphabet letters to shadows.
M - Map - City map with toy car to drive.
N - Name - Button-on Name.
O - Outer Space - Moving rocket ship, astronaut, moon, stars.
P - Pond - Frog with velcro tongue to "catch flies", lift the flap pond creatures.
Q - Queen - Braid-able hair, removable jewels on crown.
R - Robot - Elastic limbs, LED eyes, zipper.
S - Shapes - Match shape to shadow.
T - Telephone - Removable receiver, family phone numbers in "phone book" to practice.
U – Under the sea - Octopus with snap tentacles, tactile coral/seaweed and creatures, lift-the-flaps.
V - Vegetables - Mini vegetables to pull from "dirt" and collect in basket.
W – Walk - Match animals to the tracks they make.
X – X-ray - Lay skeletal system pieces over felt doll.
Y – Yarrr! - Pirate with flip-up eye patch, tactile parrot, treasure chest with mini lock.
Z – Zipper - Unzip a clown's shirt to find pieces to make various faces.

So there you have it! I know it seems a tad ambitious, but I think I can to it!

What would you put it your Quiet Book?