Quiet Book Ideas for Toddler – Sew A Busy Book for Fine Motor Skills

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When I was young, my mom apparently had way more free time than I do now because she was a crafting fiend! I found my quiet book that she made me when I was 18 months old, and now my daughter plays with it. Because my mom was so awesome, I want to share some of her quiet book ideas with y’all.

These are sewing projects, but I don’t have any of the patterns.  Hopefully you’ll find some inspiration to create a busy book of your own from these pictures though!

Check out some quiet book ideas:

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Practice fine motor skills with buttoning the hippo’s mouth.  The tongue has a little stuffing sewn in to give it more of a three-dimensional presence.

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Tie bows with the ribbon on the giraffe’s neck.  The giraffe is an applique, and the neck is string.

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Fasten the buttons on the elephant’s roller skates.  This really requires some fine motor skills on my daughter’s part as this is not easy!

I also love the fabric of the elephant!  It’s a nice rough texture, which is fun for baby to touch as well.

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Put the baby kangaroo in the pouch and buckle it in.  The baby kangaroo looks a little funky, but my daughter is still entertained by this quiet book page.

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Zip the alligator’s tongue back in its mouth.  Stuffing the tongue in the mouth takes a little less skill than zipping an average zipper.  My mom hand stitched a lot of the parts of this busy book page.

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Tie up the pitcher’s glove by stringing the shoestring through the holes.  I’m honestly not sure if this is a monkey or a bear.  But tying the shoestrings is still fun either way.

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Attach the fish to the duck’s fishing pole.  There’s the matching part of the clasp sewn to the back of the two stuffed fish.  Again, these fish have hand sewing on them.

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Braid the lion’s tail.  The lion’s tail actually feels very stiff, which is another fun texture in this quiet book.  When you’re done braiding the tail, tie it with the ribbon.

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Snap the heart onto the turtle’s chest and then snap its chest closed.  The bigger snaps take a bit of muscle for my daughter to accurately close.

And that’s all the internal pages.  All the pages of the quiet book are tied together with a shoestring. img_20161013_144840682
What do you think?  Any other quiet book ideas?

Also, see other ideas from kids & parenting!  My mom’s still at her sewing 30+ years later, and she’s sewn quilts for both of my daughter’s: a pink owl quilt and a mint, salmon, and gold baby quilt.

4 Comments

  1. Anonymous says:

    I made his same quiet book for my kids when they were little. I still have the pattern so now I’m making another one for my grandchildren, along with some new ideas.

  2. Dear Anonymous, I made this book for my son more than 30 years ago… it was a favorite! I would love to make another as a gift for my friend’s grandchild, but I no longer have the pattern. Any chance you have the pattern number and brand (Simplicity?) so I can try to locate one? Thanks for your help… 🙂

    1. It’s a Vogue Pattern (“It’s the Zoo” 1959) if you’re able to find it somewhere!

  3. Found it… thank you so much! Made my day 🙂

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