Operation DIY Giant Flannel Board

Let’s Make an Early Literacy Play Space!
This year at the Central Children’s Library of the Denver Public Library we began updating our toy area into an early literacy play space. We used the five ECRR2 practices (sing, talk, read, write, play) to guide our design.

A while back we found a small flannel board in the back of a cluttered closet. It was too small for our big storytime crowds, so we die-cut some felt pieces and put it in our toy area. Our patrons loved it! Kids and caregivers retold favorite stories and made up a lot of their own.

Even though the board fell apart after a few months of use, the caregiver-child interactions it fostered stayed in our memory. We knew we wanted to include a giant flannel board in the new space. We were also inspired by the floor-to-ceiling flannel board used in a temporary installation exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.

Research
Deciding we wanted a giant flannel board was the easy part; finding one to purchase ready-made wasn’t so easy. In fact, I couldn’t find one online or in any library vendor catalog. I’m sure we could have had something special-ordered, but that would have cost much more than our budget allowed. It was time for Plan B: Operation DIY Giant Flannel Board.

I scoured Pinterest and found many tutorials for making flannel boards, but I couldn’t find anything on making a board larger than a couple square feet. We contacted the very helpful people at the Denver Art Museum. They suggested we attach the flannel to wooden panels with wallpaper paste and then attach the panels to the walls. I used this idea as a starting point, than built upon it with the helpful advice of many wonderful friends and family members. After some trial, error, and much Googling, here’s what I came up with.

Supply List
(I made a 4’ x 8’ board, but it’s easy to customize to your space requirements)

• Panels: I used ¼” Masonite purchased at Home Depot. They come in 4’ x 8’ sheets, but the Home Depot guy cut the panel into 2’ x 4’ sections so I could easily fit it in my little car. Most lumber stores will make cuts like this for free if you ask.
• Wallpaper Paste: You’ll need enough to cover the front of your panels in a fairly thick coat, plus a bit to stick down the overlapping 2” or 3” of fabric on the back. I bought a 1 quart container and had plenty leftover.
• Wallpaper Primer: This is different than regular primer! It’s important to use oil-based because water-based primers can breakdown the water-based wallpaper paste over time. I used every bit of a 1 quart can of Kilz Original Primer.
• Paint Brush: For the wallpaper paste. I used a 3” brush with synthetic bristles. The bigger the brush, the faster the application of paste.
• Roller, Roller Handle, Roller Pan, Pan Liner: Use these for the primer. You could use a paint brush, but it will add time to your project, especially if you have a big board. Also, oil-based primer is a pain to clean out of a brush. This way you can just toss the roller and the pan liner.
• Flannel: Although you want to stick felt pieces to your board, flannel is actually the best material for the board itself. Felt will pill and fuzz quickly. I purchased my flannel by the yard at JoAnn Fabrics. We agreed on a nice grassy green, but you can pick any color or even use a different color for each panel. Make sure you take into account the width of the fabric. I bought 6 yards of flannel that was 48” wide. This gave me plenty of wiggle room for my 4’ x 8’ board.
• Tarp/Plastic: Something to cover your work surface. Make sure it’s clean because everything sticks to flannel!
• Sawhorses/Table: Optional, but helpful if you don’t want to lean down to the ground.

Putting It Together

1. Prime both sides of the panels with the roller. Allow to dry completely. I had to prime one side, wait for it to dry, then flip it over and prime the other. Depending on your climate it can take a few hours or a whole day for the primer to dry.
2. If your board is made up of more than one panel, like mine, cut the flannel into strips big enough to cover the front of the panel and overlap 2”-3” on the back. This will create nice edges. Figure out which side you want up (one side is usually softer and I like that side up).
3. Lay the panel flat and face up on the ground, table, or sawhorses. Apply the wallpaper paste in an even coat that isn’t too thick, but not too thin. The flannel will absorb some of it, but it will also soak through if you put too much on. Think of putting a nice layer of butter on your toast.
4. Lay the flannel on top of the panel, smoothing out the wrinkles from the center to the edges. Wallpaper paste takes a while to dry, so this step is very forgiving. You can lift the fabric and re-lay it as needed. You want it to be fairly taut. Press down to make sure the paste is smooshed into the fabric.
5. Flip panels over and wallpaper paste the overlap to the back of the panel. This doesn’t have to be pretty, no one will see it. Just try to make it flat (think of wrapping a present!). Let dry completely. Wallpaper paste takes a few days to dry all the way, even in the driest of climates.
6. Your board is now ready to attach to the wall! Our facilities department used screws and beauty washers.

Conclusion
Coming in at just $75, this board was much cheaper and easier to customize than anything we could have special ordered. We recently installed three of the panels and they look wonderful. We didn’t have quite enough room for the fourth panel, but that leaves one as a spare just in case. The bright green color really pops against the ivory of the wall and our patrons love it!

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Our guest blogger today is Amy Seto Musser. Amy has her MLS from Texas Woman’s University and is a children’s librarian at the Denver Public Library. She is always on the look out for creative ways to incorporate the arts into children’s services and programming to extend books beyond the page. Check out Amy’s blogs:http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/ &http://chapterbookexplorer.blogspot.com/

Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at alscblog@gmail.com.