Upcycled Felt Geometry Shapes

Purpose of this activity: To reduce waste by repurposing existing materials; to promote math education!

A dear friend's toddler visiting from California, I'll call "H", was the first to receive a set of my felt geometry shapes with a repurposed tie dye T-shirt-turned-bag to hold them. This set was completely upcycled, except for the thread and velcro! The shapes have two sides: one side (shown below) is made from second-hand store wool sweaters that I felted in my washing machine*; the back side is described below.

From top right, cwise: squares, triangle, rectangle, trapezoid, triangle, circle, blob.

The back of the shapes, to give them strength and a little crinkly sound when squeezed, is a cat food bag (any of the "woven" plastic feed bags or foil coffee bags will work). I first cut the cutest parts of the cat food bag into different geometry shapes. I then pinned the shapes to different colored felted sweaters and cut. With sewing machine, I sewed a zig zag stitch (use a fun color if possible; I used pink thread here for "H").

The backs of the shapes. H loved the kitty on the back of the circle!

Lastly, I quickly sewed a bag for the shapes out of a second-hand tie dye T-shirt. I also added H's initial and a heart out of felt to the front of the bag. I had some scrap material with a heart pattern... the finishing touch was a "love handle". This was so fun to make and fun to share with cutie-patutie H!

Peering into the bag of shapes with velcro closure... and the love handle!

7/23/12 Update: I wanted to also include a picture of my first geometry baby toy, a "cube" with felt on the outside and feed bag on the inside. It takes a bit longer to make these, but I was on a mission to make a 3-D math toy for a friend's new baby. This picture was taken just before I sealed it shut. I am working on a tutorial for these:

Colorful cube baby toy made from repurposed sweaters and feed bags

* To felt sweaters: Put up to 3 or 4 sweaters (at least 75% wool) inside a pillow case. Tie the pillow case closed and secure with wide"broccoli" rubberband (this prevents the wool bits from clogging the pipes). Wash in hot water with other "normal load" clothes (to conserve energy). Wash twice for better felting results. After at least two washes, take sweaters out of pillow case and dry on high heat for at least 30 minutes. Clean out lint trap often!