Summer Kid Crafts: Felt Roads

I'm a little sleepy *warning: confession time* the boys and Andrew have been out on various camping trips on and off since last Friday which means no one is around to make sure I get to bed on time.

Earlier in the week I had found my treasured copy of Anne of Green Gables and decided that it was high time Lillian was introduced to the greatest of all childhood reads but wouldn't you know it? The kid wouldn't listen. I read her three or four chapters and she liked it well enough--if it kept her from having to go to bed--but she just wasn't into it so with a grumble about the ingratitude, degeneracy and general illiteracy of the current generation I gave up and tucked her in bed.

"Well even if she doesn't like it maybe I'll just read this next chapter to myself--isn't this the part where Anne gets Diana drunk? Funny how much more sense the chapter makes when I actually know what raspberry cordial is. . . ."

Six hours later I'd finished the book and had pulled out the next in the series. Long story short I'm getting a little zombie-like after so many marathon reading sessions. But the good news is the series really is as good as I remember it.

But I digress. Today's subject is not my lack of sleep but another fun activity to do with your kids (assuming the little turkeys won't sit still long enough to listen to a classic of western literature). Felt roads.

All you need are scraps of felt (or even fabric) for your own interstate highway system right in your living room. There are a few options here--in the picture you see how we've laid down felt roads, houses, lakes and flowers in a rather apocalyptic-looking homage urban planning but if you don't have fabric to cut you can get out the markers and draw roads and villages instead. We did that one year on a large piece of canvas. You can lay out your felt pieces on the carpet but you can also glue them to a piece of poster board (like you see in the picture) or cardboard so that it's easily portable. Because, as we all know, neither Rome (nor its highways) were built in a day and being able to tuck your creations in the corner until tomorrow isn't a bad thing.

Then dig out the cars and go for it.

Here, too, are more goodies from the archives if you happen to have masking tape and hard floors to decorate.

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