Mindful Hands

Wet-felting is a fun and easy craft to introduce to children. Using very simple materials you can create beautiful shapes and, depending on what kind of cut-out you use, perhaps an animal, plant, or figure. We created butterflies using a pancake cut-out. Cookie-cutters will work best. There are some beautiful copper and stainless steel cookie-cutters out there. I let the children pick 3-4 colors of dyed wool. Then we gently layered them to create a pattern or shape and poured warm water and natural dish soap on the wool. This project works best with fairly hot water to start. I usually pour the hot water and start poking the wool to get it started, and once the water is cool enough let the children start to work with the wool. I encourage them to add more wool as we go along, layering it until it feels substantial enough and even all the way across the shape. Once the wool is firmly shaped the child can lift the cookie cutter off and we transfer the wet-felted creation to a dish towel ...

Today was the end of the week and I woke up wanting to do a craft that was new for my group of children. I always love creating art out of natural materials that we are immersed in because it creates more of a connection between the space we are in and our own selves. Our sandbox has been a central part of the summer program at my house. Over the years I have carefully curated it with shells and rocks from the oceans we visit. This year I came across some beautiful small shells for sale in a shop in Eastham, MA called Buddha Bob's. We scooped the shells into little bags to take home for future art projects. Today we made a simple project that required little set up. Using only thick colored paper, glue, paintbrushes, sand, shells, and other natural materials from the garden the children and I created some lovely art pieces. In fact, they were so immersed in this project they didn't want to stop for lunch time and requested more time for their art making. That is a success I wou...

Playdough is something my family thoroughly enjoys. It seems we can play with it for a looooongg time. I love how open ended it is and full of sensory goodness. I added another element to my homemade playdough to add to the sensory experience: a bit of calming lavender essential oil. Below you will find the recipe as well as recommendations for storage. Homemade Playdough Recipe INGREDIENTS 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup water 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1/3 cup salt 1 tablespoon vegetable oil natural food coloring (Watkins works well) two drops of lavender essential oil per color INSTRUCTIONS Total Time: 10 minutes 1. Mix together all the ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan. 2. Cook over low/medium heat, stirring. 3. Continue stirring until the mixture is thickened and begins to gather around the spoon. 4. Move the dough onto wax paper or a plate to cool in 3-4 separate balls. 5.While playdough is cooling add in your drops of color and begin to knead until the color is consistent, or mos...

How to make pine-needle paintbrushes It's really quite simple, as you can imagine. But the reality it creates is magical. Camping in a grove of pine trees, we came across nice specimens perfect for creating paintbrushes with. Here is a little photo montage of how we did it with just: -pine needles -cotton string -a stick -a knife -paper -something to create contrast on the paper: for testing we chose coffee