When I was a kid, my mom had a kitchen calendar I absolutely adored. It wasn’t your run-of-the-mill paper flip calendar—it was a magnetic skyscraper, each “window” numbered for the days of the month. A little magnetic burglar with a see-through window would “prowl” from date to date, and every morning she’d move him to the right number. I thought it was the most genius invention ever, and for years I’ve tried to dream up a way to make my own kids’ felt calendar.
Then it hit me… felt! No fussy magnetic board required—felt sticks to felt, so my prowling burglar could cling without a single magnet. But honestly? I wasn’t dying to recreate a tiny cat burglar scaling a building—there are way cuter ways to play this game. My brainstorm list went straight to Mother Nature: a night sky with a wandering moon, a flower with a roaming bee, a sun circling a fluffy cloud… and then the real lightbulb moment—a mushroom! Naturally polka-dotted, ready-made for numbering, with a sweet little leaf as its moving partner. Cute, whimsical, and not even a tiny bit larcenous.
Of course, this project meant gluing a lot of felt—and these fingertips are officially retired from hot-glue battle scars. Back in the day, hot glue was my only option because every white glue I tried would seep through felt, leaving sad, dark, crunchy spots. But now? I’m a total convert to Aleene’s Felt & Foam Tacky Glue—it’s thick, it’s reliable, and it won’t betray you with watery splotches. My felt mushroom (and the leaf that follows it) fully approve.
What you’ll need:
- Aleene’s Felt & Foam Tacky Glue
- Felt: red, white, black, light brown, beige, green
- Felt numbers
- Scissors
- Newsprint
- Pencil
- Chalk
- Dowel
- String
1. Cut white felt circles. Mine measured between 1 to 2 inches. Use Aleene’s Felt & Foam Tacky Glue to glue the numbers to the white circles. Make sure you make some larger circles for the numbers 20 to 31. (Note: you can buy felt numbers, cut your own by hand or use a dye-cut machine.)
2. Arrange your numbered circles on a large piece of scrap paper (like newsprint), and draw a mushroom cap shape around them.
3. Cut out the template.
4. Trace the template onto red felt with chalk; cut out the red felt mushroom cap.
5. Cut out the mushroom stem from a light colored felt.
6. Cut off the bottom of the template you made in step 3 and trace that onto a tan or brown felt. Cut it out, lay it on top of the red mushroom, and place the stem in the middle..
7. Glue white numbered circles to red felt with Aleene’s Felt & Foam Tacky Glue. You don’t need to use a lot, but since this was going to be something that would be touched and used for years to come, I wanted to make sure the numbers stayed put.
8. Apply lines of Aleene’s Felt & Foam Tacky Glue around the underside of the cap. Cut strands of brown yarn and adhere them to the felt. Trim ends for a clean finish. Once you have glued all of your yarn, glue the stem to the center of the mushroom’s bottom edge.
9. Cut a leaf shape from green felt. Cut a hole in the center, making sure it’s wide enough to reveal the larger numerals on the calendar. Use Aleene’s Felt & Foam Tacky Glue to attach darker green strips of felt to the leaf as veins.
10. Glue a dowel to the back to edge, tie string to each end, and hang it on the wall!