Felt World Map with Continents and 3-Part Cards

I have been searching everywhere for a map that could be used to place animals on. Something reusable, easily stored, and that won't cost me an arm and a leg. I finally had the idea to make one out of felt. The only problem is that I don't I have the time to make my own pattern. I decided to look it up and found a wonderful blog called Imagine Our Life. Stephanie had the perfect pattern available online for free. Using her pattern I was able to create an awesome world map that the kids could use to place animals from around the world on. Many thanks to this wonderful lady for not only creating this pattern, but allowing others to use it for free. She also has a much better 3-part card format than I do. So I started using the free format she provides as well.

As if that wasn't enough, her map comes with colored continents to match. Puzzle pieces that children can place on the map to learn the continents. How awesome is she?! You should definitely check out her site. She provides other fun projects as well.

What you will need for this work.

1. The pattern Stephanie kindly provides free of charge. You can get it HERE.
2. Felt. (You can follow Stephanie's instructions to letter if you like, but I just winged it. I already had a ton of felt at home and didn't want to purchase more if I didn't have to. All my felt supplies come from Michaels.)
3. Fabric glue.
4. Needle and Embroidery Thread (to match your felt colors)
5. Optional: Velcro. (I chose not to use Velcro for many reasons, but if you would like to you can follow Stephanie's instructions on what to do with it and even what type to use and where to get it.)

I started by printing her pattern out on card stock. I then traced it onto the felt and cut it out as I went along. Her pattern is great and didn't change too much. I did attach Madagascar to my African puzzle piece. I also cut out the stretched out version of Antarctica and made a white puzzle piece that fit the map (I still have the actual "rounded" version as well). The other thing I changed... I didn't make mine into a book. We roll rugs in my house and since we are using it as a "rug" I chose to have them roll it up instead. I did choose to use her 3-Part Continent Cards with this project. Don't for get to laminate them.

For those of you interested she also has felt labels and animals. We have a ton of Toobs from Safariltd.com so I chose to lighten my sewing load by using those animals (more to come on that). If you don't have the money to splurge on all those toobs or you just prefer the felt she has patterns for those as well.

Over all this project is great and I absolutely love the way it came out and how well it works. We have had this map for about 3-4 years now and I am so glad we had the opportunity to make it. I also take it to the daycare where I work and the children absolutely love it. For those of you looking for something similar I hope this works out well for you.

Posts to follow using this map:
Animals of North America, Animals of South America, Animals of Europe, Animals of Asia, Animals of Australia, Animals of Africa, Animals of Antarctica, Animals of Ocean

Other upcoming posts:
Montessori Inspired Ocean Works