The Sandwich Game

I admit it. I've jumped on the felt food bandwagon.

Felt food makes for such fun pretend time for kids of any age.

There are so many great tutorials out there, and for those of you who are unfamiliar with the felt food craze, you wouldn't believe it if I told you... for every food that exists under the sun, SOMEONE has made a pretend felt version.

For this reason, there is no need for me to include a tutorial here for felt food. If you would like some, simply google "felt food tutorial," and you'll be amazed by the selection out there. Let me know if you're dying for a certain one and I'll post the tutorials I used.
Found a tutorial that you love? Leave the link in my comment box!

What I DID want to share with y'all is my "Sandwich Game."

I started by making my bread and all my "fixins."
I made peanut butter, jelly, different meats and cheeses, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, and condiments.

You could make these with a sewing machine, but I personally can't get to my sewing machine when my offspring is awake, so this was the perfect project to mess with while he was up and playing.

This was fun and simple and VERY cost efficient, but, of course, I couldn't stop there.
I promise, I'm not going to jump on my soap box about educational toys here,
but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to add some kind of lesson.
The kind of lesson that kids don't even realize they're learned (the best kind).

Today's Lesson: Sequencing!

I actually got the idea from a sandwich game that I fould at the educational to store... but it was like 60 bucks and not even that well made. I mean, it didn't even have bacon! Who wants a sandwich set without bacon???

So I figured it would be easy to make my own.

The sandwich stuff has been finished for awhile. Then esterday I made some cards with different sandwich sequences and drew on pictures of the elements. If you're not confident in your drawing skills, you could use clip art or something. I just wanted my pictures to look similar to my felt fixins.

The other main thing I love about this game is that kids can play in stages.

First stage, just pretend. Make sandwiches. Play. Simple.

Second stage, play using the cards. The goal for the kids is to have fun and make the sandwich on the card.

To make it more fun for them, make some cards with their favorite sandwiches.

I made some silly cards too, like peanut butter and pickles. :)

The goal for the lesson is to first recognize a sequence and then be able to mimic that sequence. This, paired with the pretend play is perfect for preschoolers.

I laminated my cards with my new favorite toy, my laminator, but if I didn't have that, I would use some wide packing tape to "laminate" the cards. You should definitely protect them from the "elements" though. Especially since these are bound to make your mouth water!

Have fun!