Curly Birds

Making Felt Balls with Kids

We have covered buying the roving and how to wet felt with kids - now let's make something!

Book: Show Me a Story and Giveaway

I have been patiently waiting for Show Me A Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children’s Storytelling to appear in my mail box. The idea of a craft book dedicated to children’s storytelling sounded like a great concept and right up our alley. 

This book does not disappoint! It is filled with great ideas and beautiful photographs. My very favorite thing about Show Me a Story, is that many of the projects shown in the book have actually been made by kids – very refreshing in a children’s craft book!

 

The first project that my girls wanted to try was the Traveling Puppets. Nola made cloud puppets that she could move in the sky as if the wind was blowing them along. Kira made a flower puppet that could grow and a second puppet of a mouse eating cheese. The idea of cutting slits in the picture so puppets could move was so appealing to the girls.

Almost immediately, Nola and Kira began to think of how to include their characters in a story, what sets they would need to make, and the plot. Such a simple craft sparked so many creations!

 

Author, Emily Neuburger, is a teacher, mother, and crafter – and it is obvious from Show Me a Story that she wears all of these hats well. The book has substance and encourages children to create with their hands and their minds. 

 

The book is well-written, uses everyday materials found around the house, and the crafts are good for young kids all the way up to adolescents. With projects ranging from story dice and memory cards to soundtracks and maps, we will be referring to this book for a long time.

 

As soon as it stops raining, we will be making these story sets. There is talk amongst my girls of incorporating the sets into their birthday party.

The girls and I often tell each other stories - Show Me a Story is the perfect accompaniment to our antics. And if you’re new to storytelling – Emily will expertly guide you along. 

 

GIVEAWAY

To enter today's giveaway for a copy of Show me a Story, please leave a comment in today's post by 8pm CST on Tuesday, September 25. I am awfully sorry, but federal regulations require that the winner be a US resident.

You can see a list of all participating blogs on Storey Publishing's blog, and enter there for a second chance to win!

 

*Please note - while I was not compensated for this review, Storey Publishing did provide me with a free review copy of the book.

A Quick Craft #1: Lunch Box Fun

Add a little fun to your kid's lunch...

PULL ME

 

Keep on going...

 

And going...

 

Almost there!

 

A yummy treat and a little love in the middle of the day. 

 

As you pack your kids’ lunch with good, wholesome, and nutritious food, please remember the millions of kids who do not have access to abundant food. A free school lunch might be their only hot meal of the day. Here are ways for you to get involved and how to host a food drive.

How to Host a Food Drive

Food drives, big and small, are a great way to involve many people in the effort to alleviate hunger in the United States. As September is Hunger Action Month, now is the perfect time to host a food drive.

The food collected from food drives, and delivered to food banks and pantries, is sorted and given out directly to emergency food box recipients. Typically, an emergency food box holds a 3-day supply of food for each household member.

 

1. Organize

Choose the location and duration of your food drive. Neighborhoods, schools, offices, civic groups, and houses of worship are just some of the many organizations that are happy to help sponsor a food drive. Consider registering the food drive with your local food bank. Most food banks will provide you with flyers, containers, and additional tips for running a successful food drive. 

 

2. Advertise

Either use a flyer provided by your local food bank, or make your own. All flyers should include information about where to drop off the food, how long the food drive is running, and the most needed food items.

MOST NEEDED FOOD ITEMS:

Peanut Butter

Canned Meat

Canned Fruit

Canned Vegetables

Cereal

Pasta

 

3. Collect

Either use containers provided by your local food bank, or use cardboard boxes and plastic tubs to collect all the donated food. Label the containers and put them in a highly visible area.

 

4. Deliver

Collect all the donated food and take it to your local food bank or pantry. If your food drive has generated a lot of donated food (over 500 food items), then most food banks will pick the food up.

Remember to thank all the participants! 

 

HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILDREN HOST A FOOD DRIVE

Over a meal time discuss the issue of hunger with your children. Talk gently about kids that might not have any breakfast that morning. Perhaps lunch at school was their only hot meal of the day.

What should we do?

I asked this question to my girls. They thought for a minute and together decided to ask their neighbors and friends to donate food.

Here are the beginnings of my girls' food drive... 

 

KIDS HELPING KIDS {food drive}

Joyce at Childhood Beckons found a way to encourage her son to read and support their local food bank. Her son asked sponsors to donate one nonperishable food item per book he reads in a week's time. At the end of the week, they will collect the food he's raised and deliver it to their local food bank. 

 

For more inspiration...

Jennifer at The Good Long Road organized a food drive at her farmer's market. 

Megan at Coffee Cup and Crayons hosted a Hunger Heros food drive play date.

The possibilities are endless.

 

Stacy, the driving force behind Mom's Fighting Hunger, and Jennifer, an indie filmmaker, put together this fun yet touching movie showing how kids can get involved... Every Can Counts. 

 

This Mum is Fighting Hunger

GO ORANGE

September is Hunger Action Month and orange is the symbolic color of hunger. Across the country individuals, organizations, food suppliers, and food banks are coming together to create change. To feed those in need, to motivate those with plenty, and teach those who will listen.

Hunger in America exists for over 50 million people. That is 1 in 6 of the U.S. population – including more than 1 in 5 children. Source: Feeding America

 

Several years ago, for a hunger study organized by Feeding America, I interviewed people picking up Emergency Food Boxes. The people I met were genuine, courageous and scared.

One man I will never forget...

I asked him if he ever skipped meal to feed his children. With a tear in his eye, this man said that he always let his children eat first and then he ate anything that was left over. He worked a full-time job and a part-time job, but he couldn't make enough money to cover rent, electricity and feed his family. He often went without meals so his children could eat.

It is a sacrifice that we would all make for our children. But, it is a sacrifice that we shouldn't have to make. 

 

YOU CAN HELP

As parents there are many things we can do to help alleviate hunger in the United States. We can work together as families, neighbors and communities to raise awarness and funds for people who face hunger on a daily basis.

We can nurture our children's empathy to care about others and let our children find ways to help. 

1. Hold a food drive. Collect canned goods from family, friends and neighbors and donate the food to your local food bank.

2. Give encouragement to families in need - see project here

 

3. Hold a lemonade stand and donate the proceedes to your local food bank

 

I am honored to be part of a group of Moms Fighting Hunger. We will be working together this month to bring you information and inspiration to help feed those in need.

Throughout the month I'll be posting, tweeting, and pinning ways for you to get involved. 

WIll you join me?

Wet Felting with Kids

Last week we looked at roving and how to buy it. This week we will start wet felting with kids. 

Wet felting is the process of using hot, soapy water and friction to stimulate layers of perpendicularly placed roving to bond together and become felted.

Children of all ages treasure feeling wool slowly meld to become an object – it is quite magical.

The natural fibers have such a rich texture that children become engrossed and tend to spend an amazing amount of time wet felting amazing creations. 

Younger children will enjoy the process of feeling the felt in their hands, while school-aged children often focus on a tangible object they want to sculpt.

 

LET'S GET MAKING

To Prepare the Roving: Pull off layers of roving and roll it into a ball, pull off another layer of roving and wrap it in the opposite direction around your tiny object. Continue wrapping layers at 90 degrees angle to each other until you have an object about 2 inches in diameter.

To Prepare the Water: When I am felting on my own, I make my water as hot as possible. When I am felting with my girls, I make the water as warm as I think they are comfortable with. Mix in a generous squirt of dish liquid with the water. I have used many different varieties of dish soap from Dove to Meyers and Green Works and they all seem to work fine.

 

Getting Wet: Dunk the wrapped roving into the soapy water. Gently squeeze and shape. Shape into any shape you want. The roving will slowly begin to congeal and become smaller and harder. Repeat dunking, squeezing, rolling, squishing, and adding roving until you achieve your desired size and shape.  

 

Rinse: Rinse in cold, clean water and let dry. Drying usually takes a day or two.

 

Kira's unicorn - she is so proud that she made her creation all by herself. First Kira wet felted the pieces and then sewed them all together.

The act of felting tends to make this art-form more about the process than the outcome, especially for young children. Even so, there are few useful techniques that are fun for kids to learn:

Making felt balls

Using a mold

Creating flat felt

We will cover all of these projects over the next few weeks...

 Ultimately, your children will never have cleaner hands. Ever. 

 

IT'S FUN TO SHARE

If you have projects that you have already made, please add a link in the comment section so we can all have a look. And if you're motivated to make something inspired by the series, please send pictures to [email protected]. By becoming a fan of Curly Birds on facebook you'll be able to join in the fun.

Facebook: Behind the scenes shots and first to see new projects. You can also upload your pictures to the Curly Birds facebook page.

Pinterest: I will be continuing to update my Felting Pinterest borad with tutorials, ideas, and inspiration. Follow along with felted projects and ideas.