Once again, if there’s a need, there’s a way and in this case, I needed pads of butter for pretend play in preschool.

Whether your kids are like mine and love to pretend to cook or you’re looking for a durable material that will last over the years to come, this design is it. I love working with felt and fabric for these reasons. It is my go to whenever I know I’ll need the item for a while and it helps me put myself at ease that I have reliable, handmade items that didn’t break the bank either.

My idea to make felt butter pads came to me while setting up concepts for our September dramatic play unit at the apple orchard. Truthfully, I’m still working on organizing how social groups will go on a project by project basis but I thought that learning a recipe to make apple pies would be fun… sort of a three dimensional puzzle if you will. This September came in as a blur and low an behold, I didn’t finish out the project as intended, however, I did finish this stick of butter that can go on to be used in plans for this and next month’s dramatic and social play events that are both dedicated to different kinds of food preparation.

So without further ado, here’s how to make a pad of butter:

In the last post on how to make sliced butter, I mentioned how to make a stencil. For those that really need a refresher on that, please see that post as we’re going to just slide into directions for this project here.

Take a look at the materials for this. Here I used both felt and quilting fabric. Truthfully, I was looking for something visually stimulating that looked sort of interactive for our students rather than just creating an all yellow block. That’s why I used the quilting fabric that I had on hand. You’re more than welcome to substitute the cloth with anything else that you have on hand, or are interested in using. Keep in mind that different fabrics will slightly change the way your product will come out.

Now, after you’ve selected the fabric for the faces of the butter pads, use your scissors to cut 1″x1″ squares of the fabric. If you’re only looking to do one tab, you’ll need two of these. If you’re looking to do an entire stick of butter which has eight pads (also known as tablespoons), you’ll need a total of sixteen 1″x1″ squares.

Make sure that the squares are similarly cut, especially if the fabric was hard to maneuver. This extra care will ensure that your butter pads will look the the same when lined up with other butter pads.

Put your 1″x1″ squares to the side.

Find your yellow felt.

Hold the 8.5×11 sheet vertically to cut along the length of the felt.

Eyeball, or measure out the actual measurement of a tablespoon of butter. I eyeballed it against the width of my index finger to find the width of the butter pad as I didn’t have a stick of butter in our refrigerator at the time I was making this project.

Once you have the finger width by 11″ long piece of felt cut from the sheet, decide on how many you need and cut more according to that number of pads you want.

Put yellow felt strip(s) to the side.

Find your yellow thread and needle.

Give yourself some patience while trying to thread the needle. If you’re having trouble guiding the thread into the head of the needle you can try cutting the frayed thread with a sharp pair of scissors, or wetting your fingers with a little bit of soapy water to pinch the thread through your fingers. This method can help flatten the thread as well.

Once you’ve threaded your needle, pull thread through the head of the needle and about one arms length far from the needle’s head.

Line it up with the thread still on the spool.

Use your scissors to cut the thread away from the spool, leaving you with two pieces of thread with the same length from the head.

Gather both pieces, make a loop and tie a knot. Do this two or three times, in the same spot, for a secure knot that will not slip through the felt.

Once the knot is tied, pull the knot so that the thread’s slack is in equal parts on either side of the head, meaning that the needle is in the exact middle.

Pinch the head and the thread it holds to keep the thread in the right place while sewing by hand.

It’s finally time to sew the butter together.

While holding your needle with one hand, pick up the 1″x1″ square and the felt strip.

You’ll need to line up the 1″x1″ square on the edge of the felt divider before you start sewing.

Your first stitch will need to be behind the 1″x1″ square to hide the knot. (My above example shows the opposite. Either is fine, but hiding the knot from our students means a longer longevity of the butter pads.) Pull the needle through the felt until it is anchored there. Come around and catch the face of the butter and the edge of the felt in a blanket stitch. Use this stitch all the way around the square, bending the felt around the fabric as you go.

Once the sides meet, you may need to snip the excess of the felt off to be able to attach the two narrow edges. I continued to use the blanket stitch throughout this section to keep things less complicated.

After, I put the butter pad project to the side.

Stuffing the butter pad.

I chose to stuff it now since sewing the next face proved to be uncomfortable. If you don’t mind the awkwardness, you’re more than welcome to go on until the third side is complete and then stuff your piece. As for me, I decided to do it earlier.

For stuffing, I chose to recycle fabric, which would add to the longevity of the use of this final product. No matter what it is you want to use, make sure it’s something that will hold up in the washer and drier. Kids can be rough on things and learning is different for everyone. Therefore, choosing the right material for your project is really up to you. As for me, I reused my daughter’s socks. I cut them up in strips and folded them neatly into the waiting butter pad cup.

Next, I grabbed the other 1″x1″ butter pad’s face and applied it to the top.

After, I sewed it in using the same blanket stitch all the way around.

Hiding this knot was a lot harder though as I couldn’t finish inside.

Since life is all about flexibility, I hid the knot in the corner of the butter pad high against the felt in a triple knot before tying it off.

Finally, using your scissors, cut the thread away from the knot, being sure not to cut the knot itself.

And there you have it, an awesome little butter pad.

Repeat all processes to create more than one if desired.

What To Do With A Butter Pad, You Ask?

As mentioned before, this was specifically made with the idea that our students would be pretending to make recipes with fake yet tangible ingredients.

For preschool, these butter pads can do an array of things that bring out social play, language, simple math like counting and even following simple instructions like matching ingredients, their amounts and completing a visual recipe card. All of these skills are huge advancements in the child’s life and because they are, they can also be built upon throughout each grade level. A list of ideas and projects will be posted soon. Please do keep an eye open for them.

If you have tried this, I’d love to hear from you. What did you wind up using your butter pads for?

Until next time, take care and enjoy.