Handicrafts in the Classroom

I truly love watching children sew, weave or crochet/knit in the classroom. We haven't gotten to crocheting or knitting yet, but there has been much weaving and sewing.

We began weaving in the afternoon program the second week of school. My older students immediately fell into the over and under rhythm of the work.




One of my student's completed his weaving project and immediately made a belt out of it. His posture conveys his sense of satisfaction with his work:



Pillows have been hand printed and sewn:






And needlework has been made into purses:









Amazingly, the cursive handwriting of each of these children has dramatically improved since the beginning of the year, as has their attention to detail and their ability to bring work to a conclusion.

A Brief Note About A Small Package

Everyday at lunch one of my students pulls this from his handmade lunch bag. Out of this small cloth envelope he pulls pretzels, pistachios (we are not a nut free school) or some other lunch tidbit. This simple to sew snack pouch is one of the most "greenish" things I have seen in lunch boxes in a long time. Farewell to all those plastic zip-lock baggies. His mom told me she has about a dozen of these that she whipped up on her sewing machine and that she throws in the wash as needed making baggies obsolete. Love it!