Materials

• Frame
• Felt
• Cap
• Pencil/eraser (sorry we forgot this in the photo!)
• Fabric scissors
• Buttons
• Rick rack
• Glue gun

Directions

• Trace out circles using your cap (ours is from a milk jug) onto your felt.  We would recommend choosing a colour of felt that matches your rick rack, however, for the purposes of photography, we used a contrasting colour.

• Cut your circles out.  These will make a base for your flowers. (It is often easier to cut out a rough square around a circle and then do more polished cut after, rotating the felt as you go.)

• Start with the outside of the circle and work your way in.  Put glue around the perimeter, attaching your rick rack and wrapping it around, adding more glue as you go, moving inward.

• When you reach the centre, trim the excess and glue down the end of your rick rack.

• Glue a button in the centre.

• Make several flowers and then glue them to your frame.

• Add a picture of someone special!

Purpose

• Re-imaging materials.
• Experimenting with different tools an techniques.

Safety Notes

• Use scissors with care & supervision.
• A glue gun should be used by and adult or based on your age and abilities, with direct adult supervision and caution.
• Materials such as rick rack and buttons can pose strangulation and choking hazards and therefore should be kept out of reach of young children and used only for the intended purposes with direct adult supervision.

Materials

• Fabric (we went with 2 different colours)
• Fabric scissors
• Sewing materials
• Fabric pens
• Ribbon
• Iron (to be used by an adult)
• Craft tray
• Smock

Template Materials (*Optional)

• Thin cardboard or cardstock
• Ruler
• Pencil/eraser
• Scissors
• Sewing Marker

Directions

• If you like, make a template to help you figure out the dimensions of your envelope or if you feel comfortable, eyeball the measurements using your notebook or cards as a visual guide.

• Place your cards or notebook on a piece of cardstock.  Trace around the edges.  Then use your ruler and give your template a 5 cm or 2 inch extra margin on the edges. Cut this out.

• Layer your two pieces of ironed (by an adult) fabric on top of each other.  Trace around your edges of your template, starting at an edge and then flip it over two additional times so you have 3 joined rectangles.  Cut this out with your fabric scissors. Then use your ruler to make the top rectangle into a triangular shape.  (We took the triangle and rounded the edges.)  Trim off the excess fabric with your fabric scissors.

• You may need to have an adult iron your fabric again to make it easy to draw on.  We put on a smock and placed our fabric in a craft tray to prevent damaging surfaces and for a flat drawing area.  Draw with fabric markers on one side of one of your pieces of fabric (in the middle rectangle area), following the product directions.  (We recommend the side that you didn’t do your tracing on.)

• Flip the two good sides of the fabric (so the one side with the drawing) facing each other.

• Sew up the side, around the triangular top and down the other side.  We did with a sewing machine and used the foot as a guide for how far to sew from the edge.  Do not sew the bottom.

• Turn your envelope inside out.

• Fold the bottom edges in and then carefully sew them together.

• Fold your bottom rectangle (on the side without the drawing) up to your middle rectangle and sew the edges as shown.

• Fold the triangular part over to form an envelope.  Slip in a treasure.  Tie it together with a ribbon if you like.

*This is a very simple version of the envelope with basic sewing.  It can certainly be made more elaborate if you like!

Purpose

• Learning to sew
• Drawing on with and on different materials.

Safety Notes

• Use fabric scissors and a needle with care and direct adult supervision.
• A sewing machine should be used by an adult or with direct adult supervision and guidance.
• An iron should be used by an adult.

This activity was part of our reader, Olga’s (who teaches English), Valentine’s Day Link Party:

http://olga-ekb.ru/story/2015-02-03/galereya-prazdnikov-valentines-day

Materials

• Smock
• Craft tray and/or plastic craft tablecloth
• Food colouring
• Water
• Dish soap
• Clear tape
• Small containers
• Pencil/eraser
• Ruler
• Cardstock
• Crepe, tissue paper or any bright type of paper you may have
• Elastic band
• Measuring cups or spoons (*Optional, you can approximate)
• Permanent marker (*Optional)
• Scissors
• Yarn, cord etc.
• Beads (*Optional)
• Hole punch
• Large needle (dull metal or plastic would work)* Optional
• Bristol board (*Optional)

Directions

• Draw out the letters that you would like on cardstock or a thicker style of paper.  We went with “LOVE”, one letter per page, using the edges of the paper to form the letters.  You could do this free-hand or with a ruler.

• Don your smock and cover your work surface.

• Place your paper (one sheet at a time) in your craft tray.

• Group your straws together and if need be, cut them to an equal length (you make want to cut them in half for younger children to handle more easily).  Tape your straws together.  (Have one person hold them together while one person wraps the tape around or if you want to have this ready in advance, use an elastic to hold the straws together while taping them.)  We suggest making a mark with permanent marker on one end of the straws so that the child knows which side not to put into her/ his mouth after dipping it into the bubble solution.  If there are many children doing this activity, you could also write their names on the straw bundles to avoid sharing germs.

• Add dish soap to water.  We went with approximately 1/2- 1 cup of water per container and a few table spoons of dish soap.

• Add your food colouring until you get the desired amount of colour.

• Dip one end of the straws (with the mark that you made previously) into the paint, bubble solution.  Put your straw bundle over you paper (as shown) and blow bubbles onto your paper.

• Carefully pop your bubbles.  We suggest using your pointer finger.

• Repeat with all of the pieces of paper, alternating colours should you like.  Wipe the craft tray in between if you don’t want colour mixing.

• Allow to dry overnight.

• Cut out your letters.

• Punch holes at the top of the letters.  We found two holes together provided some stability for the lacing.  We then backed our letters onto pink bristol board to make them more sturdy and re-punched the holes.

• Cut out rectangles of crepe or tissue paper (or both) and fold them accordion style (back and forth), taping and then punching a hole in the centre. (You made need adult assistance for this.)

• Lace your letters, beads (if you like) and tissue folds onto your yarn or cord.   To hold your letters in place, put knots on either side of each one.  You could also tape them in place with clear tape on the backs if you like.  If your yarn keeps fraying as you lace, tape clear tape around the end to make it stiff like the plasticized end of a shoelace. Or use a large, dull needle.  To hold your beads in place, lace them and then loop around and lace them again two more times, as shown in the photos.  We did this with the folds with one loop as well.

• Hang your garland and enjoy!

Purpose

• Fine motor skill development (lacing and folding)
• Experimenting with paint

Safety Notes

• Wear a smock and use a craft and/or a table cloth to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Exercise care with scissors. Use with adult supervision.
• String, cord etc. can be a strangulation hazard, thus they are not meant for play and should be used with supervision.
• This project is not recommended for very young children due to possible consumption of the bubble solution.
• Beads can be a choking hazard, therefore keep out of the reach of children 0-3 years of age of those that tend to put things in their mouths.

Materials

• T-shirt
• Fabric glue
• Fabric scissors
• Embroidery floss/ needle
• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Cut a heart out of felt.

• We sewed a bit of detail around the edges with the embroidery floss and the thread.

• Cut a strip off the bottom portion of your t-shirt (or several if you want to make more than one headband!)

• Twist it into a figure eight as shown and then fold it in half.  This will make your headband.

• Glue your heart or hearts onto the headband.  (We recommend putting it in a craft tray for this part and donning a smock to protect your clothes.)

• Allow to dry overnight.

• Put on your headband for Valentine’s Day (or everyday!) or give it to a friend!

Purpose

• Re-imaging items

Safety Notes

• Remove headbands for active play (e.g., at the playground) to prevent strangulation.
• Use fabric scissors with care and adult supervision.
• Wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothes and surfaces.

Materials

• Felt
• Fabric scissors
• Fabric glue OR sewing materials
• Smock
• Optional embellishments (Rick rack, beads, sequins etc.)

Directions

• Cut out two copies of your heart.  If you would prefer your child not to use fabric scissors, have them draw their shape on a piece of paper, cut it out, pin it to the felt and cut it out for them.

• Cut the top half off of one of your copies.

• Sew or glue on any embellishments that you may like (rick rack, sequins, gems, beads etc.)

• If you are sewing, sew the top of the bottom portion to provide a finished edge. (See where we glued the rick rack in the photograph)

• Sew or glue the top (the half) to the bottom (the whole) of your heart around the perimeter. (So there is glue only on the bottom part as seen in the photograph below.)

• Pop in a special treat for a neighbour, friend or relative!

Purpose

• Learning how to make a pocket
• Cutting different materials

Safety Notes

• Fabric scissors can be quite sharp.  Use with supervision and care.
• We suggested a smock if you use fabric glue so you don’t accidentally glue your project to your clothes!
• If you are sewing by machine, have an adult do it or based on your child’s age and abilities, provide direct supervision and guidance.

Materials

• Cork sheets
• Scissors
• Embellishments (embroidery floss and a needle/ rick-rack/ gems/sequins etc.)
• Craft glue (* Depending on the embellishments you go with)
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Hole punch
• Pencil
• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Draw out the shape that you want for your message board.

• Cut it out carefully.

• Punch two holes at the top.

• Glue or sew on embellishments around the edges.

• Lace ribbon through the holes and knot.

• Hang up and add little notes.

Purpose

• Creating opportunities and materials to encourage writing.

Safety Notes

• Use scissors and/or a needle with adult supervision.
• Wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect clothing and surfaces.

Materials

• Plastic craft grid (often used for needlepoint type crafts)
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Needle (we used a bigger one with a larger eye hole and a dull end)
• Permanent marker

Directions

• Draw a shape that you would like to use for your design.  We went with a heart.  On the second one, our son just made the shape without the sketch- whatever works for your child’s age and abilities.

• Tie a knot at one end of your yarn and lace your needle on the other end. (Some children may find a threader or thimble helpful to the process.)  Start your stitching from the bottom up to hide your knot.

• Go around the outside of your shape and then fill it in with stitching (you could go up and down on one square and then the next or you could come up on one square and then then go down several squares later etc.  Or you could combine techniques. This is a chance to experiment with sewing.)  Fill in the background in the same manner, going row by row, knotting and trimming each colour when you are done with it on the backside.

• For the outside edges we wrapped around them with the yarn, coming up through one square and then wrapping around the edge and going down through the next square.

• We also experimented with more of a weaving technique.  First we made the “columns” by knotting one end of the yarn and coming up on a corner square.  We then went down at the end of the column and came back up two squares to left or right at the top or bottom (depending on where you started) to form the next column.  (Hopefully the photograph shows this more concretely than this description!)

• We then made the “rows” by going under and over the “columns”.  If you started one row with “under”, start the next with “over” or play with this, creating your own patterns.  Once you have finished a colour, knot and trim it at the back.

• For the edges we used the wrapping stitch described earlier.

• Enjoy your coaster!

Purpose

• Learning how to sew, using various materials.
• Developing fine motor skills (making knots, trimming with scissors etc.)
• Creating a design and bringing it to life (planning)

Safety Notes

• Use scissors and needles with direct adult supervision.
• Yarn can be a strangulation hazard, therefore it is important not to use it as a toy and with supervision.

Materials

• Large canvas
• Fabric (this would be perfect for up-cycling small pieces)
• Scissors/ruler/ fabric marker OR cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter (this option is for an adult to pre-cut the materials.  Ours happened to be mainly already cut.)
• Fabric glue (* We just used the more inexpensive craft glue as we knew we would be sewing the edges as well.)
• Embroidery floss/ needle (optional)
• Fabric scissors
• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Using your ruler and fabric marker, make squares of fabric. (We recommend flipping the fabric over and drawing on the back.)

• Draw a diagonal line to make them into triangles.  You could do two lines (in a criss cross fashion) to make smaller triangles if you like.

• Cut along the lines with fabric scissors or have an adult cut out the triangles using a rotary cutter and a cutting mat.

• Put your canvas into a craft tray.

• Arrange your triangles into the shape of a heart.

• Don your smock and glue your triangles down to the canvas, using fabric glue.

• Once dry, sew the edges with embroidery floss to create a more polished look if you like.

• Give your work to someone special.

Purpose

• Re-imagining items (this would be a great activity for fabric scraps)
• Exploring shapes (this could lend to further educational explorations such as tangrams, pentominoes etc.)
• Sewing on various materials

Safety Notes

• A rotary cutter should be used by an adult as they are quite sharp.  One should use a self-healing mat for this tool to prevent damage to other surfaces.
• Needles and scissors should be used with direct adult supervision.
• It is recommended that one use a craft tray and a smock to protect clothing and surfaces.