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via RSSYes I have been eaten by my textiles class. 4 more weeks of brand new lesson plan drafting, prop & materials acquisition, teaching and learning, and things might get back to normal. Next week I get to teach spinning, which I am feeling more cheerful about. All of my K-5 kids managed to make a felted rope, ball and purse last week, so as long as we use the ‘park’ method of drop spinning which doesn’t require spinning a top and drafting wool at the same time I think we will make it through. Although I need to work running around in circles into my lesson plan for the younger boys. I’m thinking braiding rope hung from the ceiling.
Several people have asked me when is the ‘right’ time to start sewing with your kids? I think around 1.5 they are old enough to start sticking a large embroidery needle through hooped fabric. Supervised of course. Penelope thinks it’s fun to sew like mama for about five minutes. One of my friends was shocked, and thought they might hurt themselves, but really, a needle prick is hardly traumatic compared to a skinned knee, and it doesn’t take them long to figure out that it is sharp. Plastic canvas is another way to start, or a square of thick felt.
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Add Yours →Lily has been sewing with plastic canvas this week. I’m sure she would have been happy to start at 18 months, if I had let her…
Good luck with your classes!
We have done small circular plastic canvases, because I got a stack of them at an estate sale, but that turned out to be a really bad idea, since the holes are varying sizes to keep them on a radial grid, and our needle only worked about half way to the center of the circle. Frustrating. Go bad project mama!
fun to see a new post; wow, can sympathize… but like stuff that doesn’t have to be done “right”, so having an open-ended alternative handy helps…like bending pipecleaners into aliens, then embellishing with wool, or fiber.
I notice the material you put in the hoop was kid-friendly and fun too – good motivation. miss you guys!
We do try to keep it process not product, but some processes are pretty tight, like ‘learn how to spin’. The boys did just as well at learning to spin, but they do tend to need to move and do their art. 🙂
that was meant to say “boys like stuff” (in my experience)