Aron and I sat down at the end of November and drafted a list of all of the things we wanted to do throughout the month of December—tree lightings, holiday fairs, skating rinks and the like—and then jotted them down and slipped ’em into an advent calendar, trying to balance cozy nights at home with hot cocoa and the Grinch with drives into Sacramento or San Francisco. Enjoying some holiday movies are definitely a part of the plan this year, so I’d love to avoid defaulting to screen-time in the car and still keep Hudson entertained with something seasonal.
We have been coming up with lots of activities for car rides lately—homemade audio books, window clings (I’m going to use this tutorial again for Christmas) and colorful snack boxes, for example. Here’s another simple activity to make and keep handy for car rides, whether en route to see Santa Claus or Grandma Mary: a felt activity board with a winter scene, that can be used over and over. Friction is the magic that holds the shapes on display.
I had some extra felt left over from Skyler’s halloween costume, and thought baby blue and white would be perfect for a backdrop. (You can find felt at any JoAnn’s or Michael’s.)
With a hot glue gun, the felt can be layered on any piece of cardboard, but I chose to use the lid of a thin box so that all of the decorative pieces could be stored inside. The pieces themselves remain unattached, to be moved around freely.
As for the scenes themselves? You can easily cut them out yourself: Three white circles and you have a snowman! A green triangle and some small colored scraps and it’s a tree to decorate!
While I have an interest in crafting, I so rarely have the time! So I took a shortcut: craft stores tend to carry pre-cut felt shapes (especially around the holidays, for making ornaments), and there are Etsy vendors who sell seasonal felt packages, too. If you’re not up to the task, or your child isn’t old enough to wield a pair of scissors, there’s nothing wrong with purchasing precut shapes for felt or flannel boards
A few notes: The box-lid background probably took me ten minutes to assemble, and Hudson played with it in the car for at least fifteen minutes each way. I found that, for his age, it was best to have larger pieces (in other words, consider drawing eyes on the felt rather than messing with tiny black dots), to make it easy to find everything by himself. That way we could talk about the scene without my needing to reach into the backseat to help. (He is obsessed—a little scared, a little thrilled—with the “bad snowman” in Frozen right now and wanted to know if this guy was funny or bad. I told him it was “Frosty.”) And that’s the goal.
How do you keep the little ones engaged throughout all the car rides required during the holidays? All tips welcome!
This content was created in partnership with Ford to help make creativity a part of every drive this holiday season.
P.S. Tips for Flying with Babies and Toddlers.
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