Sweet Gnome Homes
A few years ago, my daughter made me a precious gift. She asked for a few supplies. Felt scraps. A tiny wood gnome.
She made me this treasure. She designed and sewed everything herself. She was seven years old.
She had a lot of practice with needles and thread (her mama is Queen of the Fairy Forest after all (her title for me)). But the design and creating of this little gnome is a perfect beginning sewing project.
All you need is felt scraps, needle, thread, a couple decorations, and a wee gnome. This project allows for a lot of trial and error because the felt pieces are small.
She cut the hearts first. They didn't match. She liked that one was bigger than the other. She trimmed them to fit together (mostly). If your child doesn't know where to start with cutting hearts, your child can make a pattern on a piece of paper. Draw a few sketches and pick your favorite. Cut and trace onto felt. Or fold the felt in half and cut just like folding a paper heart (this is a little trickier for little hands).
She could have decorated the hearts with sequins, buttons, or beads. She didn't feel like making it too fancy. I love the simplicity, myself. She sewed them together with straight stitches.
She didn't use a pattern for the gnome. She cut scraps into shapes that she liked and tried them on the peg doll. She sewed the cape with a few stitches. Then she did the same thing for the hat. She folded it in half and sewed it together. She added a flower sequin to the top.
She had sewn before using lots of the ideas in our Forest Fairy Craft Book
What I appreciated about this project was how she was able to plan and test ideas. She found a project- cape and hat, with a little home- where she could try her own patterns. I could have cut the shapes and orgazined the project step by step. But I enjoyed how this gnome gave her a lot of freedom. Yes, I had a pile of teeny-tiny piece of felt at the end. I didn't care.
Visualizing, planning, and creating are all valuable life-skills. A little toy for your efforts is a big bonus!
And it's one of my favorite gifts ever.
Welcome home, little gnome :)
Child-Made Fairies for Christmas
One of my favorite things about the holidays is making fairies with children. Every student in my class (20 in all) makes a fairy. The boys (and a few girls) are not inspired by fairies, so they make elves. Or angels. Whatever the fairies are called, they bring joy to the season.
Our book was inspired by projects like these fairies. Because families sometimes wonder how their five, six, or seven year old made such treasures. Every little fairy/elf/angel is unique. Reflecting the unique voice of the child.
How does it work?
The directions, with many photographs, are all in our book
What the child does:
- chooses felt and pipe cleaner colors, yarn, sequins, wings
- sews the decorating felt band on the hat, adds sequins and decorations galore
- sews up the back of the hat
- adds beads and bells to the top of the hat
- winds thread (pants or tunic)
- chooses petal skirts
- tries hat on to see how it all looks together
What the adult does:
- makes the body
- draws the face
- cuts the felt
- threads the needle and ties knots
- demonstates (models) the first couple of stitches and how to add sequins
- lets go of expectations :)
- folds hat in half when decorating is done, sews an anchor stitch at the bottom
- models sewing up to the top of the hat (one stitch)
- knots thread for clothing
- models first steps for winding thread (pants or over-shoulder, under arm)
- holds wings until they are attached with winding thread
- clips tiny amount so petal skirts can scoot up the legs
- glues hair and hat on fairy/elf/angel
Of course, this all changes depending on the age and personality of the child. And it doesn't have to be done on the same day. Take breaks. See the little bits of felt and thread come together to create a magical keepsake.
One of our favorite things at the recent craft fair was hearing from families whose students left us five or even ten years ago. "We still have our fairies," they said. On the tree or the table or the mantle.
We still love our fairies :)
Thankful for Nature
Our world is amazing. Whether we live in a forest, or a meadow, or a city, magic is right outside our doors. This time of year, we love talking about gratitude with family, friendships, food. One of my personal favorite actitivies is bringing children outside and asking them, "What do you appreciate here?"
Having things to touch and explore and collect helps children notice the world that can easily be taken for granted. We can walk past trees or building. It's easy to focus on the destination: going to school, to the park, to the store...
This time I just go outside. I invite children to collect one treasure (maybe two). I wander. On purpose.
We look up.
We look down.
We notice the passing beauty all around. And we ask questions. We become curious. "What are the spiky things on that tree?" "Why do these leaves change colors?"
This appreciation is simple. And lasting. Children share their treasures.
I love photos because I can take a picture, then they can leave nature in the forest (or side of the parking lot, which is where he found this tiny pine cone).
They are so excited by their discoveries.
We slow down and notice how the air feels. How does the sun feel on our face? The breeze in our hair?
We are so fortunate, to have these gifts around us every day. No small things.
When we finish the walk, we write poems to remember those feelings. Those discoveries.
To remind us. The world is an amazing place. We have so much to be thankful for :)
She found a leaf shaped like a heart.
We also place our treasures in a display. Since we are a class, one or two things from each child create a diverse collection of leaves, acorns, and tiny pine cones (these are returned to nature within a few days). With my family, each child collects a little more.
I have ideas to look for colors as we wander. Appreciate red in our world. Appreciate green :)
Appreciate now :)
I write the poem with them by asking for feelings, not stories. Their individual contributions create a lovely poem :). I usually write the closing sentiment to tie it all together.
- Take a walk
- Wander
- Slow down and share the moment (say how it feels)
- Collect treasures (gently, no living things)
- Create a display
- Draw or paint an image of a favorite treasure or scene
- Write a sentence about the walk or what was discovered
- Write poems (or a group poem)
- Put photos, drawing, and/or poems togegther for a fall book
P.S. If you would like to bring a fairy along on your walk, that would be lovely! Give your fairy a tour of our magical world :)
Enjoy autumn :)
Happy Halloween!
We send lovely Halloween wishes to your part of the forest (even if you have lots of building around you)!
Asia made these witches with second grade students at the Nevada City School of the Arts (about 7 years old). They were inspired by the felted beads, which became perfect fairy-heads! Students brought them home today and I am sure they will inspire lots of spooky-wonderful-magic!
I fall in love with the little things. For these witches, Asia gave them a little tulle cape. She found darling tiny bats and they hang from each hat.
I wonder if I could sneak into the second grade class just to make my own :)
We hope that everyone is enjoying a safe and magical Halloween! Enjoy!
The Fairy Road
This little fairy has a big job. His job is to comfort a young girl through a very difficult goodbye. Life is lovely and treasured moments. Life is also sad and lost moments. We want to hold on, especially when letting go breaks our hearts.
We don't always have a choice. And perhaps these little tokens, these handmade fairies, gnomes, and felt stuffies, perhaps they can help our journey. Perhaps they can help our children through the dark patches of forest that comes along with living.
When my children were young, I felt the connection that we all share. I felt that we are bigger than ourselves. We are made of the same stardust. I want my children to know, for always, that I was with them. Even if they are at school or in their own bedroom or away travelling.
I made up this story for my daughter. We tell it again for all separations. Whether it's an overnight adventure, or the loss of a loved one. We use the Fairy Road to share our connection.
I hope this little fairy, and the story, might help a friend's family who is saying the worst goodbye. My heart aches for all of the children and families in stressful, dark circumstances today. I know these tokens cannot erase heartache, but perhaps they might give a little peace.
The Fairy Road is a story of finding hope. It is a story that brings us together. I am happy to share it. A downloadable, printable version is here.
I send so much along with this little fairy. Light and love. And believing :)
The Fairy Road
By Lenka
When my daughter was young, she didn’t want to sleep in her own room.
I’m too far away, she said. What if I can’t find you?
And I said that I would be in her heart, that she could feel me close even if she couldn’t see me right there.
She shook her head. No, she said, no. I need to find you.
She challenged me to look beyond the obvious answers. I thought deep and creative and new thoughts.
Our world is not the only world, I said. Our world is one of many worlds. And those worlds are just as real and true as our world. We visit them in our imaginations and in our dreams. We are more than these hands and feet and faces. We are energy. Pure, light, beautiful energy. And we can travel from world to world. When we close our eyes. When we dream. When we drift into peaceful thoughts...
Between your room and my room is magic. There is a path, a fairy road, covered in sparkles, that connects you and me for always. We don’t need shoes to travel this road. We just need to believe.
Close your eyes and let go. We will find each other. We will be in a place with shimmering lights and tea-cakes and an orchestra playing lovely music. We will dance. We will play. We will be together.
Can you see?
She snuggled under the covers, not quite sure about my plan. And can I find you for always?
Always.
Our world is not the only world. And we may be far from each other, but we are connected forever. I believe. Being apart is the toughest thing in the world- saying goodbye is heartbreaking. But I know that we go on; we visit with tokens and dreams. We stay even when we are gone. We are together. Forever. Meeting on the Fairy Road.
peace, love, and light,
Lenka
Game Token Gnomes
We are delighted to team up with the lovely people at SewMamaSew. The free tutorial for Gnome Game Tokens is posted here.
I love to share a little behind-the-scenes :)
The entire project inspired us! I used to make these games and tokens with my second grade students. We drew a game-board and sewed gnomes to travel through the game. I adore the creativity that children bring to game-making.
Even younger children love making gnomes. We decided to use paint this time around. It worked really well. We used regular watercolor paints. Ian chose the wee size gnomes. Of course he chose orange, orange, orange.
Anika is a unicorn-and-rainbow-girl these days, so her game featured a forest and garden where the unicorns could play. We drew the boards, then decided paint would be great, too. This project kept us busy for awhile :)
Our neighbor-friend came over and made a couple of gnomes, too. Here is the finished family! Our paint had a tinge of sparkle in the watercolor which gives them a shine. You could add a little glue and glitter after the paint dries for a similar effect.
We had to talk Ian into one red hat. He wanted orange, orange, orange, until we explained that we needed to tell the gnomes apart.
The gnomes ended up traveling on a few trips with us. I didn't worry about losing them since the process was so fun and we can easily make more. Every once in awhile, a craft becomes a treasure and I don't want it to be lost at the park or on a far-flung adventure. These were perfect pocket-pals.
Afterwards, Anika decided that her game needed cards with specific instructions. Their games kept growing as they thought of new fun additions. We used dice from another game box. The finished activitiy was just as fun as creating the games. We are all inspired to create new ones :)
We hope that everyone enjoys the tutorial! Thanks again to SewMamaSew for the opportunity! What fun :)
The First Fairy Mobile
Last month, I wanted to create a gift with our class of kindergarten and first grade students. Our beloved teacher was going to have a baby! What a perfect chance for me to try a long-time idea. How could I make the fairies into a mobile?
This was the perfect gift. Each student helped with one of the six fairies. We didn't know if the baby would be a boy or a girl, so we kept neutral colors. I chose the felt and cut the pieces before we sat down to sew- orange, blue, yellow, and green. The children helped sew hats and sequins so we had three girls and three boys.
I also kept the thread choices blue or green. This way, the fairies looked similar with their unique personalities. Children also chose the beads for the hat that would end up matching the beads I used to connect the wires (I didn't plan that ahead of time, but it worked out perfect).
Once I had the six fairies, I used floral wire and the heaviest beading wire that I could find in our local craft shop. The beading wire was pretty, shiny, and soft. The floral wire was thin, but strong. I ended up using both wires. I liked the 'character' of the softer wire. The uneven bends here and there just added to the charm. I used beading pliers to make simple loops at the ends and the center. Each wire balanced with a girl and a boy. I attached these together with short pieces of wire. I felt like the middle sections needed a little something, and the beads were a perfect solution!
I could make a tutorial if people are interested in all the details of putting the mobile together. My magic was seeing how each child contributed to a collaborative gift. I have wanted to make a fairy mobile for ages! I am glad that I got the perfect opportunity. I have also seen lovely mobiles using a hoop. I would love to try sticks, too, for the natural elements.
I loved creating this fairy mobile with the children. We hope the baby loves our hanging Fairyland!
Giveaway: Summer Fairy
We decided to celebrate our book all summer with a series of giveaways! We love to share our crafts and kits.
This week is a blossom fairy with Waldorf inpiration. This girl has a flower-hat with long green braids. She is sweet and calming. She hopes to join your home.
We are happy to send her as a gift to a special child in your life. We contact the winner and you give us a shipping address.
We are open to entries from the USA and Canada. If you are international, email me and we can talk about shipping costs (I can ship internationally if you can help cover the difference).
Good luck! We would love to send her to your home soon!
*Please note: Fairies are not for very young children who taste their toys (though fairies do love hanging above cribs or near windows safely out of reach). Fairies have small decorations. Fairies love gentle, creative play but do not enjoy rough pulling :)
Thank you for sharing the Forest with your friends!
Upcycled Owls and Kitties
Asia created these lovlies with second and third grade students at NCSA (7-8 years old). She saved fabrics (ripped clothing, shrunken sweaters) and found supplies. Repurposing the clothing showed children that changing old fabric to a toy can be magical.
By this time of year, students have learned three ways to sew: the Running Stitch, the Whip Stitch, and the Blanket Stitch. We call them the Dolphin Stitch (up and down), the Polar Bear Stitch (around and around), and the Rabbit Stitch (up or down and through the hole). I can see children using all three to make their crafts unique.
I am fascinated how some children use patterns and even spacing for their sewing. While other children use mismatched, unexpected decorations. Each style delights us. Each style shares a child's personality. With sewing, there is no 'right way'. Only your own way :)
Upcylced sewing with found fabrics instead of felt meant the fabric was softer. Asia made the animals bigger so students wouldn't be frustrated. These owls and kitties were oversized when compared to our felt critters. This gave the children more to hold as they sewed. Asia is so good at modifying a project so students are successful :)
Here are a few for inspiration :)
I couldn't photograph all of them- Asia made about forty! These are just a few :)
Patterns and directions for the Owl and the Pussycat are in Forest Fairy Crafts. Creating your own critter just needs imagination and old clothing. Have fun upcycling :)
Gnome Party Favors
Last week my girl turned ten. My, oh my, how time flies! We thought about different favors to give her friends at the party. We both loved the idea of gnomes! A little magic to send home with each guest :)
We made the gnomes appeal to older children with different colors. We chose teal and black, white and purple, instead of pastels. Every child is different, of course, and these colors appealed to her friends. Even the boys!
The gnomes disappeared too fast for me to even take photos. Luckily, my girl and boy brought home a gnome of their own so I could photograph these two.
I can see the gnomes being fantasic party favors even as she gets older. They are good luck charms :)
To make a big batch of gnomes (we crafted seventeen altogether), these tips helped me a lot:
- Buy gnome forms in bulk (if you can). They sell in craft stores a few to a package, but there may not be enough on the shelf. I order sets of the from A Child's Dream Come True in groups of 12 for $3- sweet! (1 and 5/8" size)
- Choose colors all at once. Pick a few colors of felt that work together as mix-and-match. Think of your friends. What are their favorite colors?
- Cut capes. I cut a couple of capes out of each color. I saved everything in a basket.
- Cut hats. Same story :)
- Use varigated thread for different colors. We used rainbow crochet thread (size 10)
- Sew the capes on the wooden gnomes. I did this in a batch where I didn't even tie knots in the thread. I started in the back, sewed a running stitch around, and knotted the two threads together. I didn't hide the threads, which was a shortcut for me. I knew the hats would cover the knots in the back.
- Sew hats. Add sequins, blanket stitch the bottom edge, whatever sounds pretty. Enjoy making each hat unique.
- Stuff a little wool or cotton stuffing in the hat and glue it on. Let the glue dry and enjoy your party!
I was busy getting her party ready, so I didn't photograph the process. One day :)
You could, of course, sew them at the party as a craft. That would be fun, too!
We knew that children would be busy playing so we made ours ahead of time.
You can find more detailed gnome-sewing directions in our book
Have fun sharing your gnomes.
P.S. My daughter sewed hats too. She loved giving her creations away :)
Meanwhile, In the Forest...
I know it seems quiet, but we are busy with new ideas here in the forest. I am figuring out logistical details before sharing all the magic. Here is a sneak peek-
I want to thank our loyal friends and fans of the forest who preorder our book. I am making a special PDF with at least 5 hats that couldn't fit into the book. I am working on how I will collect, keep, and send out emails to everyone who sends a receipt (I don't care where the book is purchased) or order number. I haven't figured out logistical details of organizing it all though, so save onto those emails. All receipts will be honored :)
Stay tuned for details!
The second big idea is from my daughter, Anika. She wants to start a Forest Fairy Fan Club for kids. The club will have newsletters with ideas and inspiration for new crafts. The theme would be Kids Inspiring Kids. We have tons of plans, including Magic Wands and Kitty Ears. Again, it's the logistics of gathering emails, creating the newsletter, and sending it to the email list... I've never done that before. More adventures in learning for me, which I love :)
I also have a basket full of craft kits made by Asia in delightful spring colors to photograph and post in our Etsy shop.
That and I just got a bunch of postcards featuring the cover of our book! I want to send one your way! ... I really need to find a secure way to let you send me address :). Hmmm...
Okay, enough announcements for today. I just wanted to give you a brief tour in our busy forest! And I'm planning classes, workshops, and book signings for the summer. A busy forest indeed!
Math Sculpture Game
In my class, we love playing games to learn. A big skill is learning addition so it isn't a chore- with 'automoticity' as we teachers like to say. We want addition to be easy like 1+1. Which means lots of practice. I created this game to encourage practice while having fun.
The Math Scultpure Game goes beyond the game where children roll to cover all of the numbers. This time, use a material that can build: pattern blocks, little flat stones, Legos, whatever can make a tower. For this game, keep adding an item to a number with every roll of the dice. See which tower grows the tallest!
What fascinated me with the game were a few fun effects. One, children kept building even after covering their numbers. They wanted to keep growing the sculptures. We called them towns and we called them glaciers and we called them coral reefs. You can make the building match whatever thematic idea you like. This was an unending game (which I loved). And very cooperative.
Second, the children noticed a pattern. The buildings in the middle grew the tallest. 2 and 12 were usually the shortest. This led to early observations about probability and the many ways that you can make 5 with two dice vs. 12 (only 6+6). These mathematical and scientific deductions were fun to facilitate.
Finally, this was an engaging game for single or paired children. Originally, I had students take turns by passing the dice, rolling, and adding. Then they realized they could each roll a dice and add the results together. Turns every turn! Which is real invested learning- hurrah!
As a bonus, I created a board with 1-6 for my early learners who are still practicing number recognition. For this game, they used one dice and stacked to match the number of dots to the written number. This game was more straighforward and gave excellent practice for a necessary skill.
The game boards are free to download for personal and classroom use. Enjoy!
Click to Download the Math Sculpture Gameboard PDF
Click to Download the Number Recognition Gameboard PDF
All PDFs are the property of Forest Fairy Crafts. Please contact us for commercial use permissions. Thank you!
3 Reasons to Sew Together
I recently sewed a fairy with my niece. And I learned three reasons why it is worth the time and effort to engage children in crafting gifts (even for themselves!)
1. They make their own choices.
Their ideas of color and design may be very different from what we would choose for them. Sewing together gives them a chance to explore their own ideas. My niece got to build visualization skills as she tested one swatch of color with another. And her selections were not what I expected at all. And they were lovely!
2. They see the value of a handcrafted gift.
By engaging in the craft, they see all the effort and decisions that go into handcrafting a gift. From exploring my many supplies to undoing mistakes, she got to see the behind-the-scenes magic that makes a handcrafted gift so special. Unwrapping a gift is easy compared to creating a gift from bits of wire and felt. Yet, the process is so rewarding!
3. They treasure their creation.
Between the felt and sequins, magic happens. I shared with my niece that no matter how many fairies I create, they all end up different. Even if I try, I cannot make two that look exactly the same. She saw this for herself as she put her fairy together. She couldn't believe that she could create magic, too. "I know just where she belongs in my room," she said, "On my special nightstand." Creating something beautiful is empowering. And the 'voice' that a child gives her or his creation makes it unique in all the world.
The gift goes both ways. She enjoyed her fairy. I enjoyed spending time with her. Which is the best gift of all. Time together :)
Enjoy your crafting!
P.S. A few of our tips for successful sewing with children are here. We will share many more in our book coming out in late spring, 2013. Thank you for visiting the Forest!
Alexandria's Fairy
I recently enjoyed a treat. My niece visited and we sewed a fairy together. The needle, thread, and sequins fascinated her. "Look, Mom," she said, "I don't need glue!"
After showing my niece the basics of the running stitch and adding sequins (which will soon be shared in our book), she took off and made it mostly by herself.
The beauty of sewing together was that I planned to make a fairy for her a few months ago. I would use pink, black, and maybe red because those are colors she wears often. Yet, yet she chose all blues and greens! She chose colors I would never have selected for her. And they inspired me!
She especially liked the star on the fairy's hat.
I liked the long stitches to attach sequins. They gave nice texture and decoration.
We both decided that this fairy would wear short skirts instead of a long, full petal skirts. Better for dancing (my niece is a dancer).
A parting image of her fairy looking thoughtful.
I am so grateful that we got to make her together. Wonderful sewing, Alex! She also reminded why I sew with children (again) which I posted about here. Magic is best shared :)
Christmas Sketches
We draw a lot in our classroom. And, every year, students ask me for help.
"How do I draw an elf? How do I draw a reindeer?"
As often as possible, I encourage their own ideas. "What shapes do you see? Where can you start?"
My students are 5 and 6 years old. Especially around the holidays, overwhelm may rise up at any moment. So this year I decided that a little inspiration could go a long way. I made simple sketches for them in an easy, one page format.
Clicking on the image will bring you to a larger size you can print for personal or classroom use. I also have a PDF you can download with both pages.
At first, I planned to fill the back-page with more drawings. Except I ran short on quick, easy ideas.
Then I had my own inspiration. Words!
Of course! Children love to make cards and decorations. They could use a word-bank for holiday ideas.
As often as possible, I used a visual cue to help show the written word. This helps our early readers.
We realized that I forgot an angel and train along the way, so they are on the back too. I print these out double sided and keep them available throughout the season. Children love to color them and use them for project ideas. Children usually take my basic shapes and create with a lot more detail in their finished projects.
So fun!
Please be aware, I drew these with student-help after school in pencil :). They are a little rough through my eyes. When I scanned them, the pencil transferred light so they may not print perfectly. If I wait to make them perfect, though, they will never be posted for you :). Also, the light writing gives children a nice chance to trace letters!
I hope these sketches inspire us to create more winter scenes. Let's draw together :)
Enjoy!
Christmas Sketches and Words PDF Dowload
All resources are property of Forest Fairy Crafts. Please contact us for commercial use permissions. Thank you!
Gratitude to Day 5
We wrote sweet ideas to catch up over the weekend. They were thankful for their pets, their school, and their imaginations. And their friends. Once the ideas start flowing, they cascade into a beautiful collection. I look forward to seeing the new page tomorrow. I hope you are keeping your books writing a little each day. We will get there together :)
Best wishes!
Gratitude Day 2
Students love this project! We wrote a few pages today since we won't see each other over the weekend. We also had gratitude circle today. They veered into silly-land for a little while with "I am grateful for my hair, and I am grateful for this candle." Then one boy had that wonderful moment where he said, "I am grateful for my hair and for my eyes and for myself."
Our page for the day!
Gratitude for ourselves. After all, we are, all of us, miracles :)
Wishing you a joyful day!
A Month of Gratitude
The mind is everything. What you think, you become. ~Buddha
With this in mind, I hope to catch a month of gratitude, a little one each day.
We are trying this experiment in the Dragonfly class. I asked them what they appreciate in the world and I chose a theme to write as a sentence on a large piece of paper. I drew a border with a block crayon and a student helped me illustrate.
As with everything, sustaining the effort is the hard part. So I hope I can keep the momentum going!
Today they were grateful for birthdays!
I want to honor their childhood vision. Even though I wanted to steer them towards lovely, poetic appreciation, I also want to catch their world today. I love the beautiful, the quirky, and the silliness of the world through their eyes.
I built a foundation for this activity with our weekly Gratitude Circles. Every Friday we turn off the lights and turn on a battery-operated candle. We sit in a circle. We pass the candle around. Each student shares at least one thing in the week that she or he appreciates. At first, the circle is a stretch for some children. These days, the ideas are easier. Mom, Dad, my school, my friends. We have so much to be grateful for! I cannot wait to see what the month discovers!
I will try for a short daily post, but we may have summaries depending how the week goes :). Happy season of thanks! For me, I am thankful for my children's school (where I teach). Spending time with my boy yesterday, watching the littles with their Big Buddy Class (seventh grade) was a huge inspiration. So much sweetness!
My boy is Batman playing tag. The big kids were so fun and happy with the littles. Makes a Mama's heart happy and a teacher's heart proud :)
Also as a side note, I had to share this project from Ian's class. His teacher is amazing. She made these laterns with the students. The day before, they taped the jars with masking tape and painted them orange. On Halloween, the children drew Jack-O-Lantern faces. The teachers used an exacto knife to cut the shapes. So pretty! I am going to keep ours out for another few weeks :)
Pirate Week Adventures
This year I focus on a mini-theme each week in the Dragonfly Class. We are a kindergarten/first grade class. Our activities become a rotation during Groups or a whole class writing adventure. Activities need to be very flexible for many different skills. And my goal is high interest opportunities for learning. I want them to take these activities home and add to their ideas.
My hope is to have photos to share, but that didn't happen for Pirate Week. Too busy :) ... Wait, I have their ship drawings to assemble the Pirate Fleet Book. I took two photos to add, hurrah.
I still want to write our activities to capture them for the future, because I know I will sit down next year and think, "Now, what did I do last year?"
Pirate Maps: I cut brown paper bigger than usual so they could roll their maps. These turned into spyglasses very quickly. We marked the treasure and drew a path to find the treasure along with landmarks. Children loved these outside at recess.
Pirate Fleet: I drew a pencil sketch of a pirate boat very simply and made a copy for each child. We discussed how pirates lived on boats and had to bring everything along with them. Each child then got to design their own fantasy ship. I drew with a cut-away design so they could show me the Captain's Quarters and add a hot tub if they liked. Some chose to color the outside of the ship, which was fine too. We had Kitten Ships and Ninja Ships and Mermaid Ships. Children became very creative and excited about the adventures these ships would find. Which led to....
Pirate Fleet Stories: I met with each child so they could tell me the story of their pirate boat. We had danger, beauty, and adventure on the high seas!
Pirate Flash Fiction: This was an idea that I had for groups for a shared writing project. What is each student wrote (or dictated) one sentence to their parent helper at group-time. At the end, we would read the sentences for a story about the Dragonfly Pirates. We had a lot of treasure-hiding and treasure-seeking and battles with Kraken. The children loved hearing their separate pieces come together to make a whole story.
Bonus topics during our two days (yes we did this is two days since I teach part time) included discovering the world, monsters of the deep (giant squid), and pirate discipline. Pirate captains gave time-outs too! Except they tied someone to the mast for awhile. We didn't go into great detail about pirate discipline, but the children found boat-life fascinating. I became the pirate captain and they all called, "Aye, aye, captain!" when I gave a direction like, "Wash hands for lunch."
Oh, and we talked about pirate flags and communicating on the high seas. Cell phones didn't exist in pirate-times so they needed to announce their arrival in a scary way. Children were fascinated by the idea of using images to communicate. They enjoyed designing their own flag on their pirate ship for the pirate fleet. I could make this a separate activity and even use fabric to create flags.... Another year :)
I also had the idea to develop a pirate persona with a chosen name, outfit, and companion (pet). This could connect to the pirate boats. So many ideas! And the children loved it because the idea of sailing the high seas searching for gold is always an adventure! Not to mention, sprinkling a few arghs! and avasts! into everyday sentences is great fun!
A pirates' life for us :). I am glad I remembered to write everything down.So this was a lot longer than I expected. We packed a lot of pirate fun into our days! I hope you get to enjoy life's treasures today!
Moon Pocket
These Moon Pockets brought sunshine into my day. Students in our first grade class sewed these beauties. I am in constant awe how we can provide students with the exact same supplies and directions, yet every project reflects the crafter in colors and stitching.
Before sewing, we discussed treasures. The moon on the front is a pocket where children can keep teeth for the tooth fairy or little notes or any little keepsake. Our last step is stringing a little ribbon to hang them.
Children are careful, conscious crafters. This moon has a pattern of flower, moon, flower, moon. This meant choosing them from the bowl of mixed-up sequins. What a lot of work!
A big challenge for grown-ups helping sew is how much to help, and how much to let go. Hopefully these images might inspire Letting Go as a help-strategy. Even wild stitiching is lovely!
At first I thought I would photograph a few to share the idea, but I couldn't choose a favorite! They are all charming.
This next one always inspires a smile.
And simplicity is amazing, too. I like how this student used a whipstich around the moon and a running stitch to finish the pillow. I wouldn't have taught it that way, but it works. And the one simple line of sequins is beautiful.
I love when sequins break out of the felt 'boundary'. This little leaf sequin seems to be floating down to land in just that spot. Very sweet. And these tight tiny whipstitches are so careful!
Another simple line of sequins frames the moon. I can see where the crafter started to get tired and stitches got farther apart. Sewing is hard work!
Here the sequins found many lines. This crafter was careful with colors as well. I notice patterns again, flower, moon, flower, moon. What dedication.
Another line of overlapping sequins. Again, those tiny little whipstitches amaze me.
We teach a K/1 class and our first graders stay in the afternoon. We have a much easier time sewing with the smaller group. These children are 6-7 years old. They had experience sewing with us last year so they know the basics of controlling the needles and adding decorations. This year will be fun for crafting!
Asia and I are working on directions for these Moon Pockets that will be available soon. If you would like hints about sewing with children, visit our Tips and Tricks. For now, I hope these inspire you like they inspired me! Best wishes!
