Do you have little ones that love to talk and not eat when it comes to meal time?  Mine love to talk and not eat and we sometimes find ourselves still sitting at the table an hour later because the children aren’t done.

My oldest is in elementary school.  I’ve noticed that when I go there to have lunch with him, that they have a period of time at the beginning of lunch that they can not talk.  At the end of the table is a little stand that has a green side and a red side.  When the red side is facing them, they can’t talk and must eat.  When it gets turned to the green side facing them, they can talk quietly with their friends.   And it’s never quiet in the cafeteria when it’s time to talk!

So, since we have a hard time getting our food eaten within an hour, my husband suggested that we make a very similar stand for our table!  I decided to make mine with Kunin Felt!

Using my Sizzix Eclips2, I cut out a person and a talk bubble out of cardstock.  These two items were included in the Sure Cuts A Lot software that is used for the Eclips2.  Then, I used pins to attached the patterns to the felt and cut out two of each!  I ended up cutting out two small strips of red to put into one of my talk bubbles to symbolize “no talking”.  I then cut out a red and green rectangle, probably 6×10 inches.  Using my sewing machine, I sewed the people and bubbles onto the rectangle pieces.

Using a strip of white felt (3×10 inches), I folded it into half and then in half again.  Using scissors, I cut a right triangle, so that when it was unfolded it was a triangle.  I pinned it to one of my rectangles with the right side up.  I sewed them to the rectangle and repeated with the other rectangle.  I then cut out a 3×6 inch rectangle from white for the base of my stand.  I pinned it and sewed it to the top part of my felt stand, leaving a 2 inch opening for turning it inside out and stuffing it.  Once it was stuffed, I sewed it up from the outside using my sewing machine.  You could also hand stitch.

One of my kids thought it was cool and one wasn’t so happy about it, well until it was turned to the talking side!   Usually we start our meal by saying a blessing and talking about what we are thankful for that day.  Now, we say our blessing, set the timer for our 10 minutes of no talking, and then we can talk about what we are thankful for that day.

Benjamin actually ended up like the talking/no talking stand.  He wanted to snuggle and sleep with it!  He carried it around for a little while before it went back to the table. Now, just so you know……we aren’t doing this to be mean.   We just have an every day issue with a little too much talking at the table and very little eating.  And after trying it, it has actually helped!  Benjamin will be going to Kindergarten in July, so this also helps get him ready for what lunch time will be like for him at the elementary school!

Hope you like my Talking/No Talking Felt Stand!

Until next time………..