Needle Felted Nativity

This is our needle felted nativity. Yaya was the master mind behind this and has played with it extensively since it was created. She made the baby Jesus herself and of course we needed a little lamb too! To make this I just used 2 pipe cleaners per person and formed them into people shapes by making a loop for the head and arms from one pipe cleaner and then making the legs from the other. Then we just started wrapping the roving around to head and arms and added "clothes". I also used pipe cleaners to make the frame of the manger and then we felted it and filled it with "hay" (raffia). It was a lot of fun and I liked the idea of having a nativity that the kids could play with. They've learned a lot about the story surrounding baby Jesus' birth by playing (and my story telling) with the characters.

Advent Wreath

I can't take credit for this idea. I got it from someone on the waldorfcurriculum-supplies yahoo group. They were selling one similar to this. I again just made up my own way of making this because I loved the idea so much. We've never done an advent wreath before but I thought it was a great way to bring the Christmas season back to the basics and Christ centered. If you aren't familiar with the significance and tradition of the advent wreath, there are some great resources online. Wikipedia has a lot of info. I like to use what I have on hand so my felting is not "conventional" I'm sure. I started with some cotton batting that I had on hand. I cut it in a rectangle shape and rolled it up. I then wrapped it with green roving, needled it a bit and then sewed the ends together. Then I added red roving, needled it, made a felt bow and needle it on. Then I added a candle. The advent wreath will have either 4 or 5 candles, depending on if you put the candle in the center on Christmas. The colors vary. Catholics use 3 Purple to symbolize "royalty" and 1 rose candle "joy" and protestents typically use 4 blue to sybolize "hope". I had some purple and blue roving on hand so the kids and I thought it was the perfect blend symbolizing both royalty and hope... beautiful symbols of this season. I used some orangy colored roving for the flame. The candle was easy. You just roll it in a cylinder shape and needle it. (Here's a tip... the tighter you wrap the roving, the less needling you will have to do because more air will be pushed out.)

The first candle is the Prophet candle and represents Isaiah's (and other prophets) prophecy of the coming of the messiah. Daddy read some scripture from the bible and we talked about the prophecy of Christ and put on the first candle. It was a very nice way to bring Christ back to the center of our Christmas when there is so much commercialism this time of year. I hope you enjoy this and are inspired to bring the season back "home" and unite your families in the joy and meaning of the season. Some of you viewing this may celebrate this season a little differently and I hope this still inspires you to start a tradition of hope and light in your homes for this blessed time of year!

Playscape

Ahh. Yaya and I have found our new favorite thing... needle felting. This playscape was inspired by the little fairy you see pictured. Yaya got this as a birthday treat at her friends party and we just had to make her a place to live. We used a 9x9 square of wool felt and felted the roving on top to make "grass" and a little stream. Yaya wanted a rainbow cave for her to sleep in and a fuschia colored tree. I think it turned out pretty cute. Our next playscape project may be just for mommy to try her hand at felting and will be a bit bigger. If I ever find the time that is:)

Needle Felted Pumpkins

These little pumpkins were so easy to make. I couldn't find a tutorial online that I liked so I just made up my own way and it worked out pretty good. I started with a small ball of yarn then just wrapped some orange wool roving around it and poked lightly with a felting needle. Then I felted the top and bottom more securely. I wanted my pumpkin to puff out so I didn't needle it too much. I also wanted it to be more round at the bottom so I then felted the lines of the pumpkin from top to bottom and this created a round bottom look. The kids didn't want to make the lines so they just poked theirs all over with the needles. Then we made some vines and leaves for the top. This was very fun and easy enough for my 4 year old.

Bean Bag Frog

Yaya is so funny! She and her brother were sewing little bean bag frogs and she looked like a little old lady in her dolls stroller. I just had to take a picture. They really like to sew and she does such a great job for a 4 year old! This was a pattern from our Earthchooling curriculum. It's such a simple little craft and now we will have bean bags to toss as we say our times tables!

Needle Felted Dolls

Yaya and I made these cute little needle felted dolls with wool roving. She wanted hers to have pink hair. What a princess! It was really nice to spend some time with her doing a "girly" project.

These are from the Earthschooling site. Her curriculum is so much fun. There are so many great resources and ideas that you can't possibly use them all! We love it.

Well, I finished our happy little math gnomes! They are so cute and the kids have had fun playing with them. Yesterday we introduced them with a little story and then we practiced finding all the ways to make 48. We used some small smooth stones as "jewels" for counting. This, of course leads me to the story of the day! Yaya was playing so nicely with gnomes and the jewels on the table. Then little J comes up to me and has his finger in his mouth and a face like he was trying to tell me something. Hmm. I just had that mother's intuition that he may have gotten a jewel and swallowed it so I counted the marbles and we now only had 47. Oh no. I looked all over for that jewel but just couldn't find it. Then the day went on and when daddy got home from work, I told him the story. I counted the jewels again just in case I miss-counted. Well... now there were only 45! Okay I know I should have put them in a container and locked them up, but they were on the table out of reach. The one he may have swallowed probably fell on the floor, right? Well, no one really knows for sure, but the main issue here is that all three jewels have been recovered as of this morning. Yes... if you're thinking the most disguisting of options, you are correct. Now we will have to find some larger manipulatives to use for math and apparently less tasty!