First steps in sewing: Paper Plate Weaving

One of my daughter's favourite toys for over a year now, is a lacing set where she 'sews' or laces different outfits onto a wooden doll's body. Having played with it over and over and over again over a this past year, she very quickly mastered the basic movements of hand sewing when I recently made her a 'sewing board' out of a recycled polystyrene plate. (Please click here if you missed that post).

It was soon time to move on to something a bit more challenging. First up was sweet little craft kit that required her to do some overhand stitching to complete a craft foam handbag. I think it came out really well, don't you?

And then I saw a picture for paper plate weaving on Pinterest a while ago, and it was the perfect next step! 

Here's the how-to:

(I used small paper plates so as to not discourage her with a project that will take forever to complete.) Glue two paper plates together to make it a bit more sturdy, and then use scissors to cut little notches into the rim of the plate. 

Now loop some wool across the plate, anchoring it in the notches. This is a picture of our first attempt, but the web was too 'dense' and chubby little toddler fingers would have struggled to weave this, so I undid it and only looped it around every second notch. (I really hope I am making sense here??)

Next, thread a plastic needle (available at shops that sell knitting supplies, or in children's craft kits) with wool or yarn of your choice. We are currently learning about pastel colours and a few skeins of soft baby colours was our palette of choice! 

Knot the end of your yarn around one of the strands in the center of your 'web' and start weaving! I did about half of the light green weaving in the center first, just to get out of the denser webbing before I handed it to Sweetpea. 

When you are ready to change colours, just tie the end of your new colour to the last bit of the previous colour and continue merrily along!!

When you have finished your masterpiece, cut loose the loops that formed your web and tie them together in pairs to stop your weaving from unraveling.

Note from this very proud Mama: Apart from about half of the green circle in the center, and me knotting the wool for her when she needed to change colours, Sweetpea did this project entirely on her  own. I showed her how to keep the weaving nice and tight, and she did an EXCELLENT job of this - I am VERY proud of my 3 1/2 year old for her beautiful work!!

Linking this to ABC and 123's Show & Tell and Beneath the Rowan Tree's Weekly Playdate

First steps in sewing: Polystyrene plate

A while ago I attended a fabulous morning workshop by a lovely lady called Renee Lighton, who encouraged us to set our children up for success by creating teachable moments in the home, using things we already have laying around. She gave us some pretty nifty ideas for using polystyrene plates (recycled from frozen pizzas or,as in our case, from a delicious milk tart some friends brought over for desert a few weeks ago!) So, I kept it aside, knowing it would come in handy for something...

I've been *trying* to get ahead with some sewing projects lately - not an easy feat with the little ones. The best time is when ArrowBoy goes down for an afternoon nap, since Sweetpea is then mostly content to sit by me on the carpet and build a puzzle.But lately she's been wanting to get in on the action and sew up something of her own. Since fabric is a bit floppy and I couldn't lay my hands on an embroidery frame just in that moment, I thought of the polystyrene plate in our recyclables box. I punched in a few holes with a plastic drinking straw, threaded a plastic needle with wool, and...TA-DAA!!

Turns out Sweetpea is a natural - I showed her the 'ins-and-outs' (literally!) of straight stitch and she completed the rest of the circles all by herself. She was a little disappointed when she came to the last hole all too soon, so she un-threaded it and started over again. Over the past few weeks she's sewed these circles with various colours and textures of wool. Perfect for mastering the basic movements of hand sewing and embroidery!

Linking this to ABC and 123's Show and Tell

Coin Polishing and spontaneous maths!

I had planned a coin polishing activity for Sweetpea as a Practical Life excercise for this week.

I set it up as follows:

Coins, a paste made from bicarb of soda and water, water for rinsing with a drop of white vinegar added, polishing cloth, an old toothbrush and a glass jar for cleaned coins.

Sweetpea loved this activity! The highlight was the way the coin fizzed as soon as the bicarb reacted with the vinegar!! :-)  It was great for introducing new vocabulary: shiny and dull, scrub, bicarb of soda, polish etc. 

I had not planned any further than just the cleaning, but she started noticing the pictures on the coins, and soon was sorting them enthusiastically. We casually spoke about the National Symbols represented on each, and I was impressed by how quickly she cottoned on to the fact that this is "South Africa's flower/bird/etc". She immediately made the connection that these symbols were similar to the national flag, thanks to the flag crafts we did around the time of the Soccer World Cup.

She sorted the coins according to pictures and size first, and then we arranged them from shiniest to dullest! We also counted each row to see how many of each value there was. I made a point of calling the coins by their value and picture names, eg, "Let's count the 5 cents with the Blue Crane on." At the moment I am not at all concerned about teaching her number symbols - I feel it is far more important to first understand how many five are, than recognising an abstract symbol.

She then decided to stack them, so I just sat back and enjoyed!

After all this we sat back and basked in the glow of all the magnificent learning that had just taken place. These are moments that seem to almost transcend the need for words. There we are, a mama and her daughter, blissfully satisfied, almost as after a wonderful meal, with a knowing little smile around the corners of our mouths, and a glint in our eyes: "I know you know that we know more now than we did before!!"  We were really just in our little house, playing around with some coins, and yet...We were together someplace magical. And I will not trade these moments with my child for ANYTHING in the world - not status or money or pretty shoes or designer clothes or fantastic holidays or to do my grocery shopping at Woolies. I will go threadbare and hungry if only I can continue  feasting on these moments of love, and warm myself at the fire of the light in my children's eyes. And I thank God for a husband that values this, too.