The Wooley Story Hour with 5 yr olds......

This is the first time I have had a group of children who are all five years old! After last week I quickly realized that I can not do all of the projects with them that I do in my 5-7 yr old class. It was interesting to conclude that when a few five year olds are mixed into a group who are up to seven years old, their behavior rises to the level of the older children in class; they take their cue from them. On the other hand, when put together with others of the same age, they have no role models; no one to emulate. Result? A VERY different atmosphere in the class room!
As a result of learning this, I shifted gears and have begun bringing their project levels down a notch or two. Additionally, the 5 yr old class is only one hour long which also is a limiter on the projects we can complete.

Now that I have experienced this learning curve, I am back on track and now know how to proceed with this group! We began with a lovely story book written by Elsa Maartman Beskow called Pelle's New Suit  which tells the story of a little boy, his lamb and how he  uses his lamb to get himself a new suit. After the story I did a brief drop spindle demonstration which always amazes.

The project of the day was for the children to do some wet felting in a baggie. This is an easy project for them to find success with which they all did! I had prepared the usual three layers of fibers in a baggie ahead of classtime and added a bit of soapy warm water to each. I had them work them until they were firm enough to remove from the bag and finish up by rolling them in bumpy shelf gripper.

Next week? Kool - Aid Dyeing. I will have them paint yarns which they will then use in a circle weaving project.

Hand Spinning with Children at Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation.....

This was spinning week with two of my classes.....

 I use an unconventional method with a clamp to teach them the basic concept of what's happening when a yarn is being spun. We used a coarse, short narrow piece of wool roving; A breed that might be good for needle felting so that it is less slick. The smaller narrower piece makes it easier for them to draft from and will spin less than a yard of yarn. I begin by demonstrating how to draft which each of them has encountered in my felting classes. I then show them how to twist the tip and clamp it to the table. Once they have done that They begin drafting and twisting in a clockwise manner until they reach the end. There was very little difficulty with over drafting to the breaking point and though there was not a consistent twist in their yarns, each was successful at creating a length of plied yarn! Next week we will add their yarns to some factory spun to do some kool - aid dyeing.
Once they completed their yarns, I demonstrated the drop spindle and each of them got a chance to try with my assistance. Spinning continues to amaze everyone who sees it being done. It's like magic!

The 5 - 7 yr old group worked with me as I had them draft....slide...
and pinch while I held the work and spun the spindle. Unfortunately I couldn't take photos while doing this but maybe next time I can try to get one of my student to be acting photographer!

I did the same with the 8 and up group but after they had a turn at the spindle with me, I gave them each a spindle to use. I was impressed that although it was challenging for them, they managed to spin without too many breaks. The hardest things for them to grasp are to add another length of roving to their work and which way to spin the spindle. Their insecurities kept me hopping so I never got a shot of them spinning on their own. I plan to have them work on their yarns during class down times  so will make a point of getting a photo of them in action another time!

In the end, I asked how much they enjoyed learning to spin in spite of it's challenges and they all were enthused and glad to be doing it! Another successfule class!

Children's Fiber Art Projects

Aren't these the cutest things?

My Wednesday Fiber Arts students completed several great projects during the last class of our winter term. The one at left offered the students the use of a variety of skills as they created their Easter chick's nests.

The nests we created from a base of about two yards of yarn followed by short pieces of yarn that students dipped into liquid starch. Once a nest base was created the shorter yarns were layed in layers alternating with some natural twigs and dried grasses to form a small nest. Students were careful to leave an indentation in the middle to leave room the the eggs and chick which they felted using merino wool. Their chicks were then embellished with yellow feathers to create a tail and wings, and squiggly eyes and a bead were added for a beak. All components were secured to the nest with hot glue.

The children enjoyed the felting process which they had learned before and all remembered the basics for completing that task. They quickly figured out how to manipulate the felt to create an egg shape instead of the ball shape they had used for making their bracelets in our first class.

These lovely little yarn baskets were a delight and the children were happy to be taking them home. This too was a liquid starch project which were finally ready to take home after remaining in the classroom to dry. The yarns they used included some of their handspun as well as a thick and thin wool that they had kool-aid dyed in a prior class. Using a small bowl as a mold, students layered their starch soaked yarns making sure they cross each other to create a bond and allowed them to dry until next class. The only glitch with this one is you have to be sure that you cover the mold with plastic wrap so the starch does not adhere to the glass. These are fragile and needed to be sured up in a few places with a dab of elmers but they really were lovely little projects that represented several weeks of accomplishments into a final project.

I was proud for the children to be able to say that these pieces had some of their own hand spun, hand dyed yarns in them!

I am hoping that the children enjoyed my class well enough to sign up for the final school term. I am working on ideas for future projects to carry them forward with their fiber arts!