DIY Felt Flower Counting Activity

Does the cost of traditional Montessori number cards feel a little overwhelming? Good news: You can make a beautiful number card activity with small felt flowers that can be used for color matching and shape matching!

affiliate disclaimer: There are affiliate links to Amazon below. If you make a purchase, I will earn a small percent at no extra cost to you. I hope these links save you some time!

Materials:

• felt (in any colors you’d like. I love Benzie Design’s felt, but any felt will do.)

• black embroidery floss and needle OR a hot glue gun

• floral metal die cuts (I used these)

• Cricut Cuttlebug or similar hand-crank die cutter and embosser

• a printer and cardstock for the cards

• this free printable for bilingual English/French cards (it’s editable, so you can use whichever languages you’d like!)

• optional: laminator and hook dots

---

Follow this picture tutorial for this DIY!

Step 1

Gather your materials

Step 2

Arrange your felt and dies carefully

Step 3

Admire your progress

Step 5

If you’re using a glue gun, this is your last step! Glue the yellow centers to the flower. If you’re going to stitch your flowers, DO NOT glue them together first. It’s really hard to sew through glue.

Step 6: Sew the yellow center circle onto the flower (front view)

Use your black embroidery floss for this. I just use a single stitch and tie a knot in the back.

Step 7: Admire your work!

Wow! Those flowers are looking great!

Did you know that felt sticks to hooks?

While you could use any fabric or paper for this, I love felt because it naturally sticks to the hook side of hook and loop dots, so you can save those loop dots for another project!

Step 9: Print and laminate cards and stick on hook circles

Print out the number cards.

If desired, laminate them and place the hook circles on top of the black dots. (I really recommend this, they’ll last longer this way).

Felt will naturally stick to the hooks, so there’s no need to put the loop circles on the backs of the flowers.

Why I Love These Materials

I love traditional Montessori materials, but let’s face it - it’s a lot of wood. I love wood. It’s warm, beautiful, and really makes Little Guy’s shelves feel natural and earthy. However, having a variety of textures and shapes to manipulate is delightful and keeps the shelf from becoming too monotonous. This is why I try to include felt and fabric elements in every shelf.

How To Use This Activity

1. Model. (I do)

   • Take out the 1 card.

   • Point to the number 1 and say “one.” Then, say it in the second language of your choice (make sure to edit the cards if you don’t want French and English!)

     • Repeat this with all numbers.

     • (I recommend starting with 1-3 if this is the first introduction to numbers).

   • Select a flower from the basket and place it on the dot for the 1 card.

2. Invite. (We do)

   • Repeat steps one and two from the modeling step with the 2 card.

   • Invite your little one to select two flowers and place them on the dots.

     • This is really hard! Make sure you narrate/sportscast what your little one is doing.

3. Observe. (You do)

   • Allow your child to work through the rest of the cards on their own.

   • Stay nearby and tell them what each number is in both languages as they work with each card.

4. Review

   • After your child has worked with these a bit, repeat the modeling step.

   • Check for understanding by asking your child to point to each number.

     • “Where is the number 1?”

       • if correct: “You pointed to the number 1!”

       • if incorrect: “You pointed to the number 3.”

         • Repeat the modeling step, then leave it alone for a bit. Move on to a different activity.