DIY Education Cube
>> Saturday, October 12, 2013
Success!
So while searching the vast homeshool resources out there, i can across a cute little bird printable board game that i thought would be fun to play during our Nn-Nest unit week. Come to find out the board game was printable but it required an ‘Education Cube’. I went to the Education Cube website. You had to first buy an education cube (which was out of stock and didn’t list the price) and then pay a membership fee to gain access to the education cube printable database to print the pieces needed for the game. I liked the idea of the education cube, could be used for tons of things, but i didn't want to pay (even though it’s a one time fee) to be a member of the printable site…. later i might change my mind but for now i wanted to go all DIY on the place.
I thought ‘A cloth cube…. easy… adding clear pockets to the sides should be easy as well!’
I had already purchased and had on hand the clear plastic needed for the pockets (had it for some other projects… LUCKY!!!) So i found a cloth cube tutorial (HERE) because i had never made one before. The pattern happened to be for the perfect size cube. I wanted to make my pockets on the cube the same size as the store bought education cube that way in case my cube turned out great i could later become an education cube member, if i so chose, and their printables would fit my cube.
The fabric pieces are 5in X 5in
The clear pieces are 5in X 4.5in
And i used 3/8 seams
First Attempt:
Problems:
I don’t know if it was user error, meaning that the plastic slipped while i was sewing or that i’m using the poly fill to fill the cube which puffs out the sides but my pockets bulge out some. The cube still works, it rolls and does what it is suppose to do but i am a perfectionist and having the sides bulge out is driving me crazy. I plan on making another one and basting the plastic onto the cloth pieces before i sew the pieces together and also using some of my left over cushion padding for the filling which is stiffer and i can cut it into a square.
If the new one works better then i will post about it later. Until then, this one does the job fine and we have already used it!
BUT....
I attempted it again and did those things i mentioned i wanted to try and it worked!
So here i have pinned some bias tape to the top edge of the clear pockets
Here the bias tape is sewn on.
The i sewed the clear pockets to my jean squares only on the sides to hold it on when i go to sew the rest. This was a little tricky. It kept wanting to gather the jean material under the plastic so i had to hold tight while i sewed.
This is the filling i used for the insides. I cut stripes of left over seat padding i had on hand until it made a square the right size.
These are my pieces sewn together in the first step to completing the cube.
This is it sewn and filled, leaving the one side for me to close up.
Here i’ve pinned the edges of the opening in preparation to close it up by sewing it by hand.
And here is it with the cards in it. No bulging pockets like the last one.
I love it!
So happy i got it to work right! Woot woot!
Ok so the Flap Flap & Fly printable game board is (HERE)
Then instead of paying the membership to gain access to the education cube printables needed for the game i went ahead and made my own.
Click on the pictures to go to the full size image where you can download and print your own for your own game if you so wish.
These are our game pieces.
I changed the colors so each of my girls could have their favorite color.
These are the six pieces you use in your education cube/dice to play the game
(As you can see this was taken before i made the new dice)
I cut out the bird pieces and put them in some colorful binder clips i had picked up at the Dollar Store when they had their ‘back to the school’ items.
(As you can see this was taken before i made the new dice)
My crazy girls getting ready to play the game.
They loved it by the way!
And now that i have the cube (and the good one) the possibilities are endless :D
More games will definitely be in their future!
