Get started on early development yourself by teaching scheduling and days of the week using your own homemade materials.
My toddler daughter goes to daycare during the week and often visits her grandmother on the weekend. She understands “today” and “tomorrow”. But she still doesn’t understand days of the week or calendar events yet. She knows the days of the week but it’s hard to convey “we will go to school in two days” or “we will visit Grandma on Saturday”. I also want to have something that she can look at herself and know if today she will go to school or stay home. So I decided to sew my own visual days of the week calendar that she can use to track events. I also wanted to sew it myself and save money over subscription childhood development products.
Focus on Early Childhood Development
My wife and I also put a strong emphasis on early development for my daughter. We try to give her as many opportunities to do things on her own as possible, like letting her help out with dinner preparation and setting the table. We also try to give her a sense of autonomy and control in her life. And a big part of fostering that independence is helping her know what happens when and in what order. And a big part of that is timing and scheduling. We try to bridge the gap in her understanding through pictures and posters.
The Cost Dilemma
After my daughter was born we subscribed to early childhood development learning boxes with a variety of different activities for her. These were nice, but she would be interested in maybe half of the items. It was also really expensive. So I eventually opted to design and make my own childhood development materials myself, and save money. These projects may seem difficult on the surface other to make yourself, but they are actually pretty straightforward.
The Design of the Kids Card Holder
I thought of the best way to represent the days of the week to help my daughter remember the days of the week and thought that an image glyph style labeling would help. I’ve always liked the Japanese naming of days of the week 月火水木金土日 (Moon Monday, Fire Tuesday, Water Wednesday, Wood Thursday, Gold Friday, Earth Saturday and Sun Sunday).
From a learning perspective I want to try to try and help make these phoenetically similar to English like Moonday, two fires for Tuesday, wet for Wednesday and (logically) sun for Sunday. Even if it doesn’t line up I like the idea of glyphs for keeping track of days and events.
DIY to Make it More Sturdy and Reusable
The process here is to prepare the backing, then sew three vinyl pockets. Finally, I will line them up on the backing, sew down and seal up the edges with folded bias.
This way the board can be repurposed for different activities like a list of glyphs for daily chores or pictures for her daily routine (like a getting ready for school checklist) if I want to use it for something else.
I would recommend printing these out onto a firm card stock so they’re more kid-resilient and easier to move around.
If you don’t want to draw these out yourself you can get the bonus printable for the days of the week and events here: (I sell the printables because it helps keep this site running).
To Sew the Kids Card Holder you Will Need
- 1/2 yard heavier weight cotton fabric like canvas, quilt cotton or duck canvas fabric. I am using duck canvas for this project.
- 1/4 yard clear vinyl (in terms of gauge, go with something thinner like 16 or 20 gauge vinyl)
- 1/4 yard cotton fabric (from a 36” wide or similar bolt)
- 1/4 yard stiff interfacing. This is optional, but it will make the body of the pocket holder more sturdy. The specific type of interfacing I am using for this project is Peltex 70 – Ultra Firm Sew In interfacing
The Process to Make the DIY Kids Card Holder
The process here is to prepare the main panel. The main panel of the pocket holder be made of one duck canvas panel, then the interfacing, then another layer of duck canvas. After that sew the three vinyl pockets. Because I want the edges of the vinyl pockets to be smooth I will put bias tape edges on the top and bottom, but you can do just bias on the bottom part that you sew to the main panel.
My wife has a sticker holder that is a similar design with only the vinyl on the top. For mine, I want to add to the longevity of it so that it will save more money over time. Finally, I will line them up on the backing, sew down and seal up the edges of the main panel with double fold bias.
Sewing the Main Body
Cut out two rectangles using your main body fabric (I am sewing mine with duck canvas) with the following dimensions: 15 x 30. These will be referred to below as Canvas Piece A and Canvas Piece B.
I like using duck canvas because it’s more durable so the value lasts through lots of kid handling, so makes for the more frugal option over the long term.
Cut out your vinyl pieces. Cut out three rectangles 18” x 5”. For this project I am using 20 gauge vinyl.
Preparing Your Edges
If you are using your own homemade bias tape, prepare it here. It was a game changer when I learned what a bias tape maker is. I’ve taken to making my own because it saves money, and I kept running out of the ready-made ones in the middle of projects. If you are working on a lot of projects using this type of edging then preparing your own is the money saving option.
I’m using cotton fabric for my bias tape since it’s easier to iron down and pull through the maker tool. I am making a double fold bias tape. For an explanation of single fold vs double fold, check here: Bias Tape or Binding? Single or Double Fold?
Of the fabric that you are using for your tape, cut out 6 strips each 20” long x 2” wide (this will end up as a 1/2” double fold bias tape). Now, it goes without saying that this is a lot of bias tape, so in a way this is a lot of work.
Combining the Long Strip
Cut out one more strip that is 60” long and 2″ wide for the outside border. This doesn’t have to be one long strip. You can cut out multiple 2″ strips (like (2) 30″ x 2″ strips) and join them together.
When joining the pieces together, join like you would sewing squares of a quilt (if that’s familiar). Place the two pieces on top of each other right sides facing (which won’t make a difference if you’re using blank canvas fabric like in this case), then sew the two sides together at the end with a 1/4” seam allowance.
Make the Folded Bias Tape
For a thorough overview of sewing down bias, checkout of the Sewing the Kids Bath Towel tutorial.
Make the bias tape by starting out with your strip. Cut the head end at a 45 degree angle. This helps to line it up when you stitch it so it’s not too lumpy.
Fold the strip in half lengthwise and iron down. Here you should have one long crease running the length of your strip. Then fold in again and iron down.
Benefits of a Bias Tape Maker
Now for the elephant in the room, this process is a huge pain in butt. So if you are serious about sewing (and not constantly burning your fingers), that is why I recommend investing in a bias tape maker kit. It blew my mind when I realized that a bias maker was a thing since I had already burned my fingers so many times.
You may not use it often, but like a pair of pliers it’s a good item to have in your sewing toolbox and will save money in the long run. Take a break midway if you need to not burn yourself out. This can be a long process so this is one of those times where I treat sewing like a form of meditation.
Iron the strip in half one more time. Below is what all of your assembled pieces will look like.
Making the Vinyl Card Holders
As I always do with sewing bias, you can use the prim and proper method or the quick and dirty method. For an overview of the quick and dirty method, check out the tummy time folio tutorial (another good childhood development DIY project to save money).
Both come with their own pluses and minuses. This one, because it is easier to use the prim and proper method with the rounded corners and it looks nicer I’m going to use that method for the vinyl.
Below are the steps to sew the bias on using the prim and proper method
Fold the other edge down and wrap around to the other side of the body panel and pull it nice and secure.
Clip the bias all around with the raw edges of the bias aligned with the raw edge of the body panel. Then stitch in place using a straight stitch. The seam will be right next to your fold line like in the above photo.
After that, loop the fabric over to the other side and clip in place. You will have rounded edges on each side now. Avoid using pins here since they will puncture the vinyl.
Then secure this side down as well. This will complete the cover of the vinyl edge.
Finally trim off the excess from the ends.
Repeat this process for the other side. Then repeat for the other two panels. Again, you can opt to just sew the border onto the bottom panel and leave the top open (since vinyl doesn’t fray).
Putting the Kids Card Holder Together
Sandwich the interfacing piece between the two canvas pieces A and B.
Next, clip the corners round and clip the body together.
Attach the Pocket Panels to the Front Panel
Now you will attach the days of the week pockets to the main panel. Separate canvas panel A from the interfacing and canvas panel B (you will put them back together once the pocket holders are attached).
Starting at the top, mark 1″ down from the top. Then 3″ down from that. After that, for the second row, mark 1/2″ down from the bottom of the first row. Then 3″ down from that. And again 1/2″ down from that. Line up your pockets along these lines.
Clip the holders in place. Then stitch the bottom of each panel in place, about 1/8″ from the fold.
The upper side will remain unsewn so that you can insert things into them.
Repeat this process for the other two rows
Sewing Your Border to Complete the Kids Calendar
Fasten panel A back to the interfacing and panel B. Then unfold your 60″ bias tape and secure all around the four sides with the raw edges of the bias lined up with the raw edges of the main body.
Clip your bias around and use the method outlined above. Tuck the end piece under the beginning partWhen you complete this step curl it over to the other side and secure down.
Once the border is sewn all around you’re done.
Bonus Step: Add a Hanging Strap to the Pocket Holder
Finally to hang it up on the wall I am using an extra string that I had in my fabric stash. If you don’t have this you can make one yourself by cutting out a strip of fabric that is 2” x 20”. Fold this in half, iron and stitch with a stitch that is next to the folded edge.
Fold the two ends down 1”at each end. Measure 2” in from the ends of the top of the main panel and clip in place.
Stitch the straps in place using a boxed stitch (an X stitch).
I tried to be as thorough in the explanation of the construction as possible, so it looks more complicated that it really is trust me. Prepare the fabric and bias, attach to the vinyl panels, layer the panels and secure the border all the way around. And you’ve got it.
Ideas for Use
- Days of the week and calendar events
- Chores
- Bed time/wake up routine
- Sticker holder
- Photo album
Making Things Designed for Your Own Family
We try to limit screen time to certain days of the week, so this kids card holder has been really useful for us to show our daughter “We watch movies on Friday. Today is Wednesday.” So it comes in handy with not only with saving us money making our own projects, but also saving us mental energy by designing something that works specifically for us as a family and our communication strategy.
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