Both adults and kids will have hours of fun rearranging these 315 pieces of felt that are specifically shaped to make creating Bahai stars a snap. Five colors in each pack, and eight distinctive shapes allow you to create an infinite variety of beautiful patterns. Each pack also comes with its own 18×18″ square of felt to work on, so each piece stays where you put it as you build your unique creation.
When you are done, take a picture, then shake it apart and start all over again – or change a color, add a twist, or layer small pieces on top of large. The tiniest change in color or position, multiplied by nine, can dramatically change the feel of your design.
For adults, rearranging the shapes and colors is very relaxing – like our coloring books, except you can change colors as many times as you like.
For kids, it is a chance to be creative and explore colors and shapes while developing fine motor skills. You will want them for your children’s classes, because they are light, unbreakable, easy to explain, easy to clean up, and reusable for years. It is a quiet activity that restless kids can do while they listen to stories or lessons.
When ordering for children’s classes, you will want to buy extra felt work squares, so each child will have their own. A single pack can be used to form five large center stars, and the remaining 270 pieces are enough to create patterns using an additional six shapes per point for each star.
For older kids and adults, the smaller pieces allow for infinite complexity, whether they are fit tightly together, spread apart, or layered two or three deep. You will run out of room on the 18″ work square before you run out of pieces to add.
The packs come in two color palettes – bright and earthtone. The 315 pieces start out as three 5×6″ rectangles of felt in each of five colors (15 sheets total). The 21 pieces per sheet are easy to pull apart. The bright pack comes with a deep cobalt blue work sheet, and the earthtone comes with a black work sheet. The 18″ felt work squares give you a fair amount of room for a large star. If you want to go really crazy, you can buy two square yards of felt at a fabric store for about $10.
For the greatest variety of patterns, choose the “both” color option and get 630 pieces and two work squares.
Scroll through the pictures for ideas. Here are some hints:
Start by forming a big star in the middle using the large diamonds. You can always take them out later.
Fold the background felt in half both ways to find the middle of the sheet, and put the bottom point of the first large diamond there to begin. That way your star won’t fall off one edge when it grows.
Use the background felt as a design element.
These were designed to fit tightly together, but that doesn’t mean they have to. Space between pieces is fine.
Pieces can be stacked.
Tiny changes multiplied by nine make a big difference.
Not every point needs to be the same.
Similar colors beside each other can create a 3D effect.
There is no wrong way to do these. It is all for fun, and you can keep making changes all day.
Our small Star Craft Clips fit nicely in the middle of the large diamond shapes, and look amazing.
If you DO decide you want to keep a design, you can glue the pieces on the background felt with a glue stick or school glue.
Have a gallon zipper bag ready to put the pieces in when you are done.
I say these are for children’s classes, but they also make great activities for Ruhi classes, Feast social time, or even Holy Days like Ridvan or Ayyam-i-Ha. Have more than one person work on a star and make it a lesson in consultation. If you are on a budget, cut the work squares in quarters, and have each person make a 9×9″ star that they can take home with them. You will be amazed and pleased at the creativity you discover in the community. For example, at our Ayyam-i-Ha party, one older woman decided to make a duck instead of a star! (see picture)
Note: there are lots of kits of felt pieces available elsewhere, but they all use pieces with 36, 60, 45 and 90 degree angles that make octagons and hexagons easy to make, but nine-pointed stars almost impossible.
Click here to buy extra 18″ squares of felt for group activities.
Possible choking hazard for children under three.
from a customer e-mail –
I love the idea that she can create as she wishes at her age[5], while also evolving into more complex designs as she gets older. I also ordered a few extra squares so she can play with her friends or we can use for our children’s classes/feasts. What I lovely gift idea! Thank you!
Anonymous –
This kit is a fun activity for feast or holy day celebrations. It is a way to encourage us to foster the arts, and to invite those who don’t think of themselves as being “artists”, to discover their own creativity.