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Easy Needle Felting with Children
When I first saw a few needle felted items (small animals and foods) I fell IN love. The texture and whimsy that the wool adds is completely enchanting. I knew we had to give needle felting a try but wanted to make sure we could do it safely, as little fingers and needles don’t mix. Felting needles are not like regular needles, they have tiny barbs on one end. When the needle is stabbed into your wool roving, the barbs pull the wool in, but not back out again causing…
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Making Sun Prints (Cyanotypes) with Children
We thought we would share a project that has always brought us so much joy. The simple art of making sun prints or cyanotypes is something each family should try at least once. According to Wikipedia: Cyanotype, also referred to as “blueprinting”, is the oldest non-silver photographic printing process. It involves exposing materials which have been treated with a solution of potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate to a UV light source such as the sun. Negative or positive images can be obtained by blocking UV light from reaching the sensitized material. For example, a…
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A Closer Look at Bees
In following The Playful Pioneers curriculum this week, we were led to study bees, beeswax and their common nectar sources. This study inspired the below activities and then so much more…we “followed the spark” and down the rabbit-hole we went for a fun-filled week studying all things bees! We used both Nature Anatomy and Farm Anatomy by Julia Rothman to kick off our study and repeatedly, throughout our week as reference. After recreating bees and their common nectar sources with pom poms and markers, we moved on to study…
