Jonah's Quiet Book

 Woohoo! I finally finished Jonah's quiet book. He's been asking for one since I gave Henry one for his birthday. Sadly, I didn't have it finished in time for Jonah's birthday, but he was still excited to receive it once it was finished. It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! Definitely a labor of love! It was fun to make Jonah's since I felt a little more free to personalize it. I was pretty nervous about Henry's but Jonah's was more relaxed and fun. I made his cover with a velcro strap to keep it closed and some soccer ribbon to make handles to carry it around. I bought those cute little soccer ball beads somewhere and really wanted to use them. So, at the last minute, I decided to use them on the cover as part of his name. I don't know how long they'll last since every kid who sees them (including my own) try to yank them off!!

 First two pages are the Robot Factory. This page took a lot of time and hand stitching but it was really fun to do. I got the idea from the most amazing and talented quiet book maker ever! You can find her incredible work here. Jonah has a big fascination with robots, so this page was perfect for him. All the robot pieces are attached with little snaps and can be moved around to create all different types of robots.

 The chicken, eggs & hen pages were really fun too (and pretty simple!) The eggs are attached with velcro, so he can move them around. The little chickies come out of their eggs and can rest under mommy chicken's wing. Henry seems to get a kick out of this page. Jonah, being a typical boy, prefers to keep the eggs and chicks stored inside the big fish's mouth!!  Ideas for this page came from this fun site here.

I really wanted to put at least one Bible story into the quiet book, and of course it had to be Jonah and the Big Fish!! This was actually the first page I did. I wanted the fish to be very different and in no way able to be confused with a whale. (Pet peeve - it's NOT Jonah & the whale!!!) He loves opening up the fish's mouth and storing all sorts of things in it.

 I gave him a few things to keep in the fish's mouth: a Jonah (who needs a face & hair - oops!), a little zebra stripped fish, an apple (why not?) and a funny little snake I picked up at Ikea.

 I knew he needed a pirate treasure chest as well. He likes pirates and he LOVES anything with keys. So I bought a little luggage lock and tied the keys next to the chest. I put some fake money from the dollar store inside, along with some jewels (from Joanne's) and a beaded necklace, although this ends up storing way more than just those items! He's only been playing with the book for about a week and already the ric rac holding the lock on is ripping off. I'll have to play around to make it sturdier. This is his FAVORITE page, so it will be getting a lot of use!

 After making Henry's book, the road was both boys favorite place to play. So I knew Jonah would need a road too. I didn't want it to be the same as Henry's so it finally hit me - the boy loves Cars (the movie) so do it up like Radiator Springs! It took a bit of work, but he really likes it! He knew right away it was Radiator Springs. I wanted to put fabric Cars cars inside the buildings, but after searching everywhere I couldn't find any that were small enough. So, as a last resort, I used stickers. They will probably get yanked off at some point, but I can easily replace them! So all the buildings open to reveal the car that lives there. I also included a Lighting McQueen car in the "garage" for him to take out and drive around.

 Jonah has always loved school buses, so I included this funny looking little bus. The door opens up and inside are some cute little children finger puppets (Ikea for $5 - score!) I wanted him to be able to practice buttoning as well, so I made the tires button on and off.

The last page is not his favorite - yet! I want him to be able to practice tying a shoe, so I found this cute little shoe idea from Pinterest. It was pretty simple to make and once he takes an interest in tying shoes, I think he'll enjoy it more.