11-18
FLANNEL-BOARD ALTERNATIVES
Two common problems with flannel-boards are that. . .
• the materials are too expensive, and
• the pieces fall off if there is the
slightest breeze.
You can overcome both of these
problems by using local resources
and your imagination.
1. Low-cost flannel-board
From Guatemalan health
workers come the following
suggestions for making flannel-
boards from local materials at
almost no cost:
• For the display board, use a
blanket folded over the back
of a chair.
• To make the pictures stay in
place, make a paste of flour
and water and smear it on
the backs of the pictures.
Then sprinkle wheat chaff
(the waste husks of the grain)
over the wet paste. The tiny
barbs of the chaff work better than A Guatemalan health worker uses a blanket
sandpaper or flannel to hold the
over a chair as a flannel-board.
pictures on the blanket.
Mix white flour in water. Spread on back of picture and sprinkle with wheat chaff.
Rice chaff or other grain husks may work as well.
(Please let us know the results if you try them.)
Homemade glue can also be made from certain
local plants. In Mexico, villagers make a strong glue by
squeezing the juice from the bulbs of certain wild orchids,
and boiling it into a thick syrup.
2. Masonite instead of flannel
In Mexico, health workers found that the rough back side of a sheet of masonite
(fiberboard) works just as well as a flannel-board. It does not need to be covered
with cloth.