Busy Books With QR Codes

With Christmas approaching, I was wondering what I could make for my little niblings (niece and nephew) and with these busy books becoming increasingly more popular I thought they might find something like this under the tree interesting. The books are not too difficult to make but are quite time consuming. The pink one took about 35 hours to make and the blue one about 22 hours. I'm not a professional by any means, so please excuse me if I used bad terminology :-)

Materials:

• 12 A4 foam sheets
• lots of felt sheets in different colours
• 12 pieces of fabrics at least 20cm x 20cm + extra for binding
• threads in different colours
• chain for the dog
• buttons
• finger puppets
• Velcro hook and loop
• eyelets
• ribbons 3mm and 25mm wide
• beads
• zipper
• transparent plastic sheet

Tools:

• scissors
• paper binder clips
• needle + needle with large eye
• hot glue gun
• eyelet pliers
• sewing machine

Materials:

• 12 A4 foam sheets
• lots of felt sheets in different colours
• 12 pieces of fabrics at least 20cm x 20cm + extra for binding
• threads in different colours
• button
• Thomas & Friends make-a-scene
• finger puppets
• Velcro hook and loop
• eyelets
• ribbons 3mm and 25mm wide
• plastic joint for dolls
• transparent plastic sheet

Tools:

• scissors
• paper binder clips
• needle
• hot glue gun
• eyelet pliers
• sewing machine
• wire cutters

Print out the template. Cut out 12 20cm x 20cm foam sheet squares, these will be the backing for each page. Glue the fabrics of your choosing to each page with hot glue (leave the edges glue free for easier sewing).

Clip the dog template (page 1 of the pdf template) to a piece of white felt with the paper binder clips. Back stitch the shape of the dog. Embroider the eyes with black, white and blue threads. Fill out the mouth with red thread, ear with pink one and eyebrows with black thread. Cut out black felt circles and sew them on as per template. Cut away leftover white felt.

Cut out the letters for the name from the felt of your chosen colour and glue them to the top of the page at least 1cm from the top. Glue the doggie under the letters and sew on the chain. Use the hot glue sparingly as it might become difficult to sew through it later.

Use the button hole stitch around the letters to make them stand out. Sew on the button (or a bead in my case).

Cut out the boy and the girl from the skin coloured felt using the template (page 2). Cut out the hair and underwear and glue them on. Embroider the faces and glue the little people onto the page 2 of your busy book.

Cut out the felt doors and circles for the windows (template page 4) and glue them onto page 3 of your book. Sew on two buttons with a piece of ribbon for holding the door shut.

Cut out all of the clothing pieces (template page 2-3) and glue the pieces together. Back stitch the pieces for the leg/arms separation, pockets, etc. Cut the velcro hooks into smaller pieces and glue them on.

Cut two strips of felt and glue them into the wardrobe. The velcro hooks should stick to the felt, but if not glue on some loops as well.

Cut out a felt heart and glue to the middle of page 4. Glue the velcro hooks onto the finger puppets and the loops around the heart.

Cut out the shoe pieces (template page 1). Take the top part of the shoes and attach the eyelets. Glue the shoes onto page 5 and insert ribbon shoelaces.

Cut out all of the pieces for Mr and Mrs Potato (template page 5). Cut 2x two pieces of different felt for the floor and glue them onto pages 6 and 7. Glue on the potatoes and the clouds. Attach the velcro hooks onto the hat, ears, mouth, etc. and velcro loops onto the potatoes.

Cut out the giraffes and the palm trees (template pages 7-8 ). Glue on the eyes and back stitch the smiles. Cut out felt grass for both pages. Thread the ribbon through a needle with a larger eye and sew on 5 rows onto each page whilst adding the beads onto each row. Secure the ends of the ribbon with hot glue onto the back of the page. Glue on the giraffes, trees and the grass.

Cut out the barn pieces (template page 6), arrange and glue them onto pages 10 and 11.

Glue the velcro hooks onto the finger puppet animals and the velcro loops onto the scenery.

Cut out the pieces for the dog (template page 7). Shorten the zipper if needed, glue it onto the mouth piece and attach the tongue onto the back of the zipper. Glue the dog onto the page. Attach the velcro hooks onto the bone and loops onto the page.

Glue pages together (1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6 . . . . ) with hot glue leaving at least 1cm glue free around the edges for easier sewing. Hand stitch on the wider ribbon around the edges of each page. Machine sew the hems and remove the hand stitched thread.

Get 5 pieces of the wider ribbon, fold in the ends and stitch the middle. Hand stitch each ribbon so that it joins two pages together. Repeat for all of the pages.

Take a piece of 20cm x 20cm fabric, fold in the edges and sew together. Hem the edges and hand stitch onto the front and back page of the book. Take another piece of a narrower fabric, sew, hem and stitch onto the other side of the back page.

Machine sew all of the page bindings and remove all of the hand stitched threads. Cut two pieces of the wider ribbon for the handles and sew them on.

Cut a hole on the flap for the button and stitch around.

Print out the template. Cut out 12 20cm x 20cm foam sheet squares, these will be the backing for each page. Glue the fabrics of your choosing to each page with hot glue (leave the edges glue free for easier sewing).

Cut out all of the pieces for minion (template page 1). Cut out the letters for the name from a felt of your chosen colour and glue them to the top of the page at least 1cm from the top. Glue the minion under the letters and stitch around the dungarees with an orange thread.

Use the hot glue sparingly as it might become difficult to sew through it later. Use the button hole stitch around the letters to make them stand out. Sew on a button.

Glue the foam squares onto the back of Thomas & Friends make-a-scene and cut out.

Cut out the pieces for the three little pigs (template page 2) and glue them onto pages 4 and 5. Glue the velcro hooks onto the finger puppets and velcro loops onto the pages.

Cut out the clock pieces (template page 3). Connect the clock arms and the clock circle with the plastic doll joint and cut off the leftover of the joint with wire cutters. Glue the clock housing and the circle onto the page. Paste the numbers onto the smaller circles. Glue the velcro hooks onto the number circles and the bird and the velcro loops onto the clock.

Cut out the shoe pieces (template pages 4-5). Take the top part of the shoes and attach the eyelets. Glue the shoes onto the page and insert ribbon shoelaces.

Cut out the letters and circles (template pages 1-6) and glue them together. Attach the velcro hooks onto the circles and the velcro loops onto the page.

My nephew lives in Slovakia and in our language we very rarely use Q and W, thus I decided not to include them.

Cut out the pieces for Red riding hood (template page 1). Cut out the grass and a piece of brown felt for the floor. Glue on all of the pieces. Attach the velcro hooks onto the finger puppets and the velcro loops onto the pages.

Cut out the pizza pieces (template pages 4-5). Back stitch the white circle so that you divide it into 8 pieces. Glue on the numbers and attach the circle onto the page. Glue the three pizza circles together and attach the little circles to the top. Cut into 8 pieces. Glue the velcro hoops onto the pizza pieces and velcro loops onto the white circle.

Glue the pages together (1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6 . . . . ) with hot glue leaving at least 1cm glue free around the edges for easier sewing. Hand stitch on the wider ribbon around the edges of each page. Machine sew the hems and remove the hand stitched thread.

Take 5 pieces of the wider ribbon, fold in the ends and stitch in the middle. Hand stitch each ribbon so that it joins two pages together. Repeat for all of the pages.

Take a piece of 20cm x 20cm fabric, fold in the edges and sew together. Hem the edges and hand stitch onto the front and back page of the book. Take another piece of a narrower fabric, sew, hem and stitch onto the other side of the back page.

Machine sew all of the page bindings and remove all of the hand stitched threads. Cut two pieces of the wider ribbon for the handles and sew them on.

Cut a hole on the flap for the button and stitch around.

Cut out the plastic windows (last page of the template). Cut out frames for the windows from leftover felt and glue them together. Glue three sides of the window onto a page, so that you can slide in the QR code from the top.

Find an audio or video you would like to accompany a page and copy and paste a link into a QR code generator (I used this one http://www.qr-code-generator.com). Print it out and slide into the window. Repeat for any page you desire. You can than use something like the Google Goggles App to read the code and play the video on a mobile device.