Felt Watermelon Fractions with Pattern
I have been wanting to make felt watermelon slices for years, since my kids were 2, 1, and newborn. Back then, there was a craft company that offered foam wedges in 2 inch "pie" slices and 4 inch "cake" versions. I didn't buy them at the time, because I had 3 kids under 3, had just started this blog, and thought we were a few years away from wanting felt play food. When I did decide that I was ready to make them, the store no longer sold them. For years, I put off this project waiting to find foam wedges.
Related: Felt Food Patterns
When I decided to do watermelon learning activities this summer, I forced myself to bite my lip and just try watermelon slices without foam filling. After looking at piles of felt food on Instagram and Pinterest, I learned that quilt batting will also give me a nice, flat sided, wedge. I already had a big scrap of polar fleece in the house, so that's what I used. Here are the rest of my supplies:
Supplies
- sharp, non-stick scissors
- packing tape
- printer
- printer paper
- red wool blend felt
- green wool blend felt
- cream wool blend felt
- black wool blend felt
- DMC floss to match felt
- hand sewing needles
- hot glue or fabric glue
- polar fleece or quilt batting
Tutorial
Start by printing the pattern. I have included several versions, so you can chose to make 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, or 10 slices (or all of them), which will become a circle as if you had just cut a round from the watermelon. I have found that the easiest way to cut small fabric pieces is to cut out out each wedge separately from the printable, then to use packing tape to attach them to the fabric. You'll need 2 red shapes and X layers of batting per wedge (I used 6 layers for the 0.75" ones pictured). Print as many pages of patterns as you need to comfortably cut out all the pieces.
You'll also need 2 strips of cream felt for the rind. To get the strip, cut off that piece from the wedge pattern and tape it onto the cream felt. Cut out 2 for one piece of watermelon. Sew them onto the top of the red wedge with cream embroidery floss.
Next, cut out the red and green strips of felt that will make up the height of your watermelon slice. I have included several options, so you can decide which thickness you'd like to make your watermelon. If you use the strip I provided, you can use one strip for the red part and half the strip for the green part (so each green strip can make 2 wedges). Sew the red strip onto the red wedge with red floss, and the green strip onto the top of the watermelon with green floss. Check the pictures if you're feeling confused.
Now, it's time to stuff your watermelon slice. As I stated previously, I don't recommend poly-fil stuffing for these wedges if you want your project to have flat sides. Take your already cut filling pieces and lay them inside your watermelon. Place the second watermelon wedge on top of the layers and sew them together. All done!
> > > Download the Pattern < < <
I made so many pattern options, so you can use the watermelon slices for teaching fractions. Kids can learn the name of the fractions by building and matching watermelon pieces to the fraction cards (scroll down for download). Layer the different fractions on top of each other to show equivalent fractions, too. In your play restaurant, grocery store, or farmer's marker, order up and pay for fraction of watermelon to reinforce the concept. How else could you play with your pieces?
> > > Download the Math Labels < < <
Younger kids who aren't ready to play with fractions can count watermelon seeds if you glue some onto each slice. Cut out some freehand seeds from black felt and use fabric glue or hot glue to paste them onto the wedges. For the pieces in the picture, I put one to six seeds on each slice, but you could make them more random. The above printable includes the number cards for counting and the fraction cards from the previous picture.
I hope you enjoy this project. Look for more watermelon fraction fun coming soon! Let me know in the comments if you make this pattern and which felt food you'd like to see next!
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We're having a WATERMELON sweet summer!
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