Quiet book: The Wheels on the Bus/Pigeon

For this page, I combined the Wheels on the bus page with the Pigeon from Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

I got my inspiration for the bus page from these two blogs: this and this.

I actually used the bus from the second blog as my template (traced from my computer screen like most of my templates). 

I sewed the bus onto background felt and left open the bottom of the window so that the pigeon could ride in there. That bottom part of the window is reinforced with Pellon to make it more sturdy when putting the pigeon in. 

Page in progress: Koala had fun with it even before it was finished- she stuck her toy frog in the bus.

For the pigeon, I traced the template from the actual book. The big pigeon books are about the size of the quiet book pages so the pigeon was just the right size for the template. I made the front design and sewed all the pieces onto Pellon. Then since pigeon was going to be taken in and out, I figured I should cover the back of the Pellon so I added felt to the backside as well. Since it has 2 layers of felt and the Pellon, it's pretty sturdy, 

I added wheels that I cut out of black stiff felt. (You can find some large sheets of stiff felt in limited colors like black, dark blue, and sometimes red but they're about a dollar a sheet and make just one page if you use it for the background. Since it costs a lot more than using the white Pellon, I usually use the stiff felt for small things. ) 

I found big orange brads that I put as the hub caps so that the wheels turn. (The wheels of the bus go round and round... Something you can sing while playing with the page together).

Here's the finished product. (I forgot to take a picture of it when I first made it so doesn't look as nice since Koala used it a lot). 

Pigeon riding the bus- he still doesn't get to drive!

Koala playing with the page- putting pigeon in the bus.