Home education input

 Laryna wrote: 

In November I enjoyed teaching a group of home educated kids and their mums about wool craft. We had 4 afternoons, 2 hours each.
At first they learned about and practised the processing of sheep's wool, and made lilttle gnomes and angels or fairies out of the carded wool. In the 2nd session the children tried spinning with a hand spindle and the spinning wheel, and they were using threads for finger knitting and crocheting. In the 3 rd session a simple weaving frame out of cardboard was made and then prepared for weaving a bracelet or bookmark with different coloured threads of wool.
Last but not least the children and mums enjoyed the amacing processes of felting with sheep's wool. They made balls or beads, and heat and other flat felted pieces using coloured wool. We had a very good and busy and  time the children and their mums experienced the unique creative advantages and possibilities sheep's wool is giving us.

For more pics look amongst the albums here and here

With ABREEF in Dunoon

Laryna writes:
This autumn I had the chance to bring wool craft to schoolchildren between 6 and 12 years in two different occasions.

At the end of September I went again to Dunoon, to the Hunters Quay Holiday park, where we had already been in August.  It was a 2 days ABREEF environmental fayre for schoolchildren in the Argyll and Bute area with many lovely stalls and ideas to introduce the kids into environmentally interesting activities and teach them about how to care more for their environment.

In periods of 25 min I was showing the different kinds of sheep’s wool, the processing of wool and the magical process of wet felting to each group of about 10 kids and their teachers.  Standing around a big round table the kids could touch and feel the natural, undyed wool and in the centre was standing a basket with wool for felting in all colours of the rainbow in their different shades. Girls and boys enjoyed making either felted beads for a key ring or necklace or a piece of flat felt.  We had two busy days with lots of kids around looking, asking and enjoying using their hands to make something beautiful and useful.  

for more pix look here

weaving the rainbow stage 2 27-3-08

Last session at the nursery, with everybody putting all they learned (colour sense and wool sense) into practise.

For wee details see "weaving the rainbow" vidoe clip and the Pegloom weaving weeks photo album

The pictures there on this site (click on links above) should explain it all really.

Just remember the photo album covers the two weeks, so you will have to scroll down for the pics of the last session.

Please add your comments and question under the pictures fi you like to know more :-)

It was great fun, hard work, and has inspired teachers and kids.
We will write mroe about but time is running out today, and we want you to have the pics at least to enjoy.
Meanwhile Laryna and Anneruth are still having to their write up for the nursery, and collect the evaluation form: and Laryna is still sewing the woven pieces into a greater piece.

peg loom weaving stage one 10/3- + 11/3

Equipped with new looms made by the team last Friday, Monday the 10th of March Laryna and Anneruth went to introduce the teachers to pegloom basics: how to string new pegs and how to prepare the carded wool for the weft.

We also brought the weaving sticks - but had to agree with the teachers: the hands of four year olds are just too small to hold them...

On Tuesday then we were put to the test..
watch 3 small clips of the intro to the kids : introducing the wool from the sheep (good thing the nursery had just taught the kids about farm animals :-) and they had made sheep pictures), introducing the loom, and introducing the weaving .



This first session the task was to be abe to draft a thick 'thread' from the carded batt and then get wound in and out round the pegs. Also a little colour was introduced to make it more exciting

and it was good that the teachers had learned fast the day before!
And here are the finished pieces:


We had to do finishing off, though, because the teachers were too busy.
We will have to put that
in our production of the guidance document for the teachers.

2nd rainbow session at nursery: 6-3-08

This time Laryna introduced the children to exploring the meeting of red and yellow, and some of them got to have a go at the full rainbow.
We have no pictures of today, 'though, as Anneruth was not there with the camera.

It was evident that the teachers and the children are very much enjoying the wet in wet painting and they had been exploring the technique in the meantime.

Laryna and Anneruth completed their guiding document for the wet in wet painting actvity with small kids. Wool craft group members can see this document under the uploaded files there.

Also - some very small video clips have been published of the teaching sessions.
see teaching the teachers painting wet in wet for the very first session with the teachers
and painting the rainbow for the first session with the kids and the wee song Laryna made up for them.

wool craft log 8-02-08

Today we had the biggest ever action day!

Who was there?
Anna, Anneruth, Elizabeth, Flora, Fiona, Hazel, Heather, Verene, - and even Issy swept us away once or twice;
oh, and not to forget: Laura popped in with all four of her boys.

What were the preparations for today?
Anna brought her weaving frame
Issy the fleece Verene washed
Flora her full rug making gear to show Fiona the art
Hazel a newspaper clip which announced Liz Brown having a Nomadic feltcraft exhibition this weekend in Glasgow
Heather her blue wool shades (one blend called 'ocean breeze')


What did we do?
Welcome Larina and banter about the past (Anneuth's and her's in Bingenheim webschule) and introduce her to the various stories and resources. She dug in deeply with the dramatic moving the rug warp round the frame and experimenting with Anna weaving the rug from the raw woool batts (how one earth can one get the rows all even all the way!). Then Laryna sotetd the inkle loom, and that was her setting it up and weaving, and doing more crafty remembering.

Anneruth and Verene supplied Anna with the rug wool (teasing and carding it).
Flora taught Fiona how to make rag rugs, and then she had a closer look at the html settings of this blog, when Anneruth showed the present uploads to all, esp the pics from the outing she had this week to Moon dance. (see other blog entry below)
Heather dug into the weaving of the Clyde: yeah! , And Hazel soaked in the athmosphere!
And Anneuth did some more needle-punch felting on rug #2 (which seems to grow holes, maybe because Iain Bogle keeps pulling the fleeces out to show off to customers ?!)
The day ended with an early b'day cake for Anneruth, and a wee jig (nothing to do with the b'day!)
To see the evidence of it all, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/galgael.news/BigWoolCraftActionDay

Other things occuring:
see above -> check them pics :-)