Easy and Cheap DIY Felt Board Using Magnetic Board as a Base

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.

I recently made my daughter a DIY magnetic board for the wall in her craft corner when we were remodeling our study.   I wanted her to also have a felt board since she loves anything and everything crafty with small manipulatives.  A budding artist, she takes great joy in creating masterpieces with all art-related building blocks we give her.

This DIY felt board tutorial will show you how to take a pre-existing magnetic board and add a felt overlay.

Here’s a picture of the finished magnetic board along with our toddler craft corner.  It was SO simple to make a DIY felt board too using the magnetic board as a base.  As a bonus, the felt can be removed and stored elsewhere when not being used.

How I Made A DIY Felt Board

First, you need to have a starting magnetic board or some sort of wood frame.  My DIY magnetic board tutorial will show you how to make a magnet board with no special tools required.

To make the felt board, I first bought a 3’x3′ piece of felt from Michael’s for around $3.  I decided turquoise would be best because it matches the colors of the room, and it also makes for a good sky color background for imaginative play.  The piece of felt was cut to roughly 2’x3′ to match the size of the magnet board.

I attached 4 hook-side Velcro circles to the top of the magnetic board, spaced equidistantly.  These will hold the felt piece.

When I want to put the felt up on the board, it adheres well to the circles.  I have denoted which side of the felt I usually hang because the Velcro circles do fuzz up the felt a bit.  Here’s what the Velcro pieces look like stuck to the frame.

Making DIY Felt Pieces for Open-Ended Play

For the pieces my daughter would use for play, I used a few other people’s free printables for felt creatures.  With these, you can print on t-shirt transfer paper and then iron-on to white felt.

However, I also made many felt pieces of my own.  The first felt pieces I made were numbers.  Are they beautiful and perfect?  Nope!  But does my daughter love them? Yep!

I also made lots of little geometric felt pieces that will make a flower.  There are two different shapes for the petals and then some shapes for the leaves and stems.  I also made some clouds and grass.  My daughter’s still a little young for trying to put the pieces in the shape of the flower, but she definitely likes just sticking them up on the felt board every which way!

So far, I’ve had great success with my daughter and her friends enjoying the magnetic board and DIY felt board!  The felt board specifically was really was easy to make, and I’m so glad it doesn’t take up any more space on the wall being that the large background felt is easily removable, foldable, and storable!