Thursday 28 April 2011

Cross Stitch at School

My daughter came home today and told me she's stitching something for mother's day with her teacher. It's nice that it's still taught in some schools ... not many I think.

I was thinking of introducing my kindergaten kids to stitching by doing some card lacing. It'll take quite a bit of preperation, but it'll be worth it. My kids love, love, love craft (I suppose most 5 and 6 year olds do). I'm just trying to think about how I can work it into the unit of work we're doing this term called 'My Place'. Maybe we could make a 'home sweet home' wall hanging (huh! I just thought of that. Obviously blogging is good for one's creative juices).

I have stitched with kids this young before as a casual (relieving) teacher. The teacher planned the activity and then left me to it ... thanks!!! Kids, needles (yes even the large tapestry kind) and threads was not a good mix for this class. I wouldn't attempt threads and needles with my current class either. They lack the fine motor skills. It might have been OK if I'd had some parent help, but as I was on my own, I spent 90% of my time undoing knots, fixing mistakes and rethreading needles. It was a looooong time ago now (at least 18 years) and I think I've blocked it out of my memory. LOL

But with older kids it's great. I made a stitched and stuffed bear with some year 6 kids once and they were pretty good at it. I still had lots of knots and mistakes to untie, but it was much less stressful.

So I'm thinking of running some stitching clubs; one at the school I work at, and one at the school my daughter goes to. It would be a lunch time activity, and Winter would be an excellent time to start it. The kids will be wanting to stay indoors. I could limit the number of kids in the club so that I'm not overloaded with work in the short time.

I'll let you know if I attempt it (or will I come to my senses before I offer my services? LOL)

See you again tomorrow
Jenni

3 comments:

  1. My Grandma used to teach and she used to do tapestry placemats. They were on a hessian kind of fabric, one with very defined lines. And they learnt back stitch and running stitch and did that sort of thing to decorate. It was stitched using bright acrylics and they had something they could use at the end. Not sure if that would be useful for you but it might give you ideas.

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  2. That's a great idea Jenni! Kids love to stitch and make things. I've used plastic canvas with 5 and 6 year olds in my class and that worked really well as they could hold it without it flopping over like aida would. You could perhaps let them make bookmarks - also encourages reading!!! - or perhaps make something for Mothers day etc. Anyway, sorry for babbling on, but I think it's a great idea and I wish you lots of luck with it.
    Oh, forgot to say, we used large plastic needles with the younger kids - health and safety and all that!

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  3. Mangogirl, that sounds like a terrific idea, and it would fit in with the home theme. I'll have to look out for the fabric.

    And Rhona, a bit late for mother's day unfortunately, not sure about the rest of the world but it's in a week in Australia, first Sunday in May. But I do have soem of that canvas which i could try. I'll have to look for the plastic needles.

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