My name is Kayla Wutzke and I am an Independent Story Time Felts Consultant from Bismarck, North Dakota.  I am 22 years old with 2 years toward a degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education.  While I don’t have kids of my own, I am very involved in the lives of my 5 year old niece, Jasmine, and my 3 year old nephew, Jordan.  I’ve been running a home daycare with my mom since Jasmine was born, and we have a blast working together.  My motto is “Put Kids First” and I think that every parent should ask themselves, “Will the decision I’m making have a positive or a negative impact on the life of my child?”  I love selling Story Time Felts because the company prides themselves in making high quality products that I believe will have a positive impact on children.   

One of my favorite Story Time Felts products is the Grandma’s Favorites with CD set, because not only is it a beautiful felt set that can be used to retell some of my favorite classic stories, it is also the set that introduced me to Story Time Felts.  I had worked at a daycare for two years when I decided to leave that job to help my mother in running her home daycare.  I looked and looked for the wonderful felt board we had used in the two year old classroom, but I couldn’t find anything that was even close in quality at any of our local stores.  I finally turned to the internet and found an independent distributor (who is now my wonderful director) for Story Time Felts.  One of the products she sold was the very same felt board we had used at the daycare!  I was thrilled to find that I could not only purchase Story Time Felts, but I could become an independent consultant and share a product that I truly believe in.

Another one of my favorite products are the Girl Clothes with Dolls.  They are just like the old fashioned paper dolls, only made with felt so they are much more durable, and so much cooler!  My niece, Jasmine, has never been interested in playing with dolls, but she can play with these for hours.  We have all 5 of the dolls, and she is very particular about who they are, “This one is Grandma, this one is Jenna, this one is Mommy…”  She loves all of the felt clothes, and likes dressing them up to match the real person’s personality! She also loves the international costumes, which she says sometimes make the dolls “look funny!” and I am amazed at all of the brilliant colors of clothes.

The Deluxe Toy Counter with CD is another popular item at my house.  Jasmine, Jordan, and I gather on the living room floor and play store for hours.  This set is great for teaching beginning math concepts.  Jasmine will usually be the cashier, while Jordan and I are the shoppers.  The set comes with felt toys, blocks, and shapes and the difficulty can be increased by adding harder concepts.  I like to ask my niece for different numbered blocks, or I tell her I’d like to buy the blocks with the plus sign or the minus sign.  I also love that the felt money that is included looks like real currency, which is great for teaching her to put the names to the right coins and how to add money and make change.  When I first got this set, I thought it might be simple and that she might get bored with it, but there is really a lot to do!

The Toggle Books are also my favorites because they are perfect for travel and for quiet play.  I’ve found them especially useful in keeping my nephew happy in church.  In the past, we would often take books along to read, but then he would ask to be read to.  He would also want to ask about the pictures.  The toggle books are just perfect for him, and my church is planning on adding the religious toggle books to all of the children’s activity bags!

I’ve been teaching Sunday School to Kindergarteners at my church for 8 years and the Scripture Stories sets are perfect for capturing the children’s attention and making the Bible stories come to life.  I think it’s really important that I don’t teach in a classroom where the kids work solely in workbooks memorizing Bible verses.  I think Bible stories and verses are very important, but I think kids learn so much more when they are immersed in the learning experience.  Story Time Felts help me reach the goal of making my classroom a place the kids look forward to coming to each week.

Another one of my favorite felt sets is the T’was the Night Before Christmas set, which is made to go with the Let’s Play House felt board because there is something so magical about the Christmas season and this classic story is great at capturing the spirit of Christmas.  T’was the Night Before Christmas is a story that I grew up with, and I enjoy sharing it with Jasmine and Jordan.  The felt pieces are also great for open ended play so the kids can create their own Christmas tale.

One thing children and adults love about Story Time Felts is that the felt is designed to let children use their imagination.  I’ve noticed that the first time children play with the felt stories, they often need direction and want to know, “where does this piece go?” This really makes me realize how many toys only work if children use them a certain way.   My answer to the child is usually, “You can put that piece where ever you want, because this is your story.  You are the story teller.”  As quoted by Albert Einstein, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”