Super Awesome and only $5! Felt dress-up board: Mermaids, ahoy! img heavy

[Craft The World]

So I have a little boy to craft for this year; he's a special kid...his favourite colour is rainbow, and his favourite thing is mermaids. My partner and I were talking about how there aren't enough mermaid things out there, especially for little boys...so I came up with this idea, when I remembered having a felt doll set as a child.Here's the finished product:



He can change the two mermaid's tails, bikini tops, and hair; he has 5 or 6 choices for each, all glittered and decorated for his enjoyment. Also, note all the fishy friends the mermaids have to play with, which also can be moved about.



What's really great is that the felt just sticks to itself! Easy to play with, easy to make new extra pieces!





Just the mermaids, without their gear.



The board: just felt glued onto foam core, then decorated a bit. Also, make pockets to keep all the bits in.



A mermaid close up for ya.

And the best part: I spent about $5.00 on felt, and used sequins and puffy paint that I already had laying around the house...so the whole gift only cost me about $5.00! Without a doubt, this will be the fave gift this year.

Don't forget to vote!

[Eliea]

This is such a great idea and could be changed to all kinds of themes for different kids!
I love it! I was wondering did you use the regular craft felt that comes in sheets or did you use wool felt that you have to have cut by the yard?

[littlebiskit]

What a fantastic idea!  I just bought a few felt sets for my daughter to play with, and (after my current swaps are done) am going to have to build a felt board for her.  I was planning on making my own felt dolls, but I never would have thought of mermaids!  Great job! 

(Love the funky hair and cloths too!  You've got a lucky little boy!)

[Momma2FIVEgirls]

Trying to get one of these done at our house before Christmas. I love that you did mermaids, I never thought to do that. I was trying to do farm animals and shapes (build houses and such with).

[hngoodlett]

Adorable! I would have loved one of these as a kid!

[Strawberryh]

This is so cute. Have you thought of adding a mereboy to it?

[LeahLen]

Very Cute!

[KMOM13]

Very original concept and think it turned out great.  Did you have to use a special type of felt to get it to stick to itself?

I have to agree with the above poster who suggested maybe also making a Merboy or Merman. 

Maybe even have a giant shark as the nemesis for the board (just recall my son having a Barbie and he enjoyed sticking her legs in the dinosaur's mouth and have the G.I. Joe come and rescue her).

I guess we all want to play with the felt board too and it is coming out in our suggestions!

[Craft The World]

Very original concept and think it turned out great.  Did you have to use a special type of felt to get it to stick to itself?

I have to agree with the above poster who suggested maybe also making a Merboy or Merman. 

Maybe even have a giant shark as the nemesis for the board (just recall my son having a Barbie and he enjoyed sticking her legs in the dinosaur's mouth and have the G.I. Joe come and rescue her).

I guess we all want to play with the felt board too and it is coming out in our suggestions!

The felt: I used the usual felt that comes in sheets at the craft store; for the background, my craft store had super-large sheets of the usual stuff, that's a little thicker and stiffer than the regular smaller squares. If you wanted a board that could roll up, just don't mount it on the foam core.

The merman idea: this particular little boy has shown absolutely NO interest in anything "boyish" at all...not even male dolls. He is obsessed with mermaids and fairies, and wants to be one; I thought about how I could make a merboy that would let him know it's totally cool that he's a little boy who likes mermaids, but I didn't want to send him the message that "THIS is a boy, and THIS is a girl"; also, this way he can't freak out his mom (my friend), who might get worried when he would, inevitably, put the bikini top and big hair on the merMAN as well as the merMAID. Phew! So much thinking just to make a simple toy!

The ONLY thing that would have made him happier than the mermaids would be if I had created wings and made them mer-fairies (a word he came up with himself when we gave him a mermaid from the dollar store that strangely enough had wings). Who knows, maybe I'll make some wings, yet.

[Alli_Lucy]

This is adorable!  I absolutely loved felt boards when I was a kid.  I also like that you haven't gendered the toy.  I'm sure he's going to love it!