Mommy's Party Animal

We had all of our Valentine's Day party hoopla this past week for school.   The parties (all four) went well and the friends all had fun.  My morning class was only a little disappointed to decorate cookies for our party instead of having cake.  I heard more than one of the 2 year olds telling their friends that we were having a Valentine's Birthday Party.  To all two year olds a party means...cake!  But they ate the cookies like champs.  After the cookies, they were quite happy to keep pretty close to our normal daily routine, so we went to the music area to dance.  All the mommies loved seeing the class dance to our favorite songs.  They get to hear their child say they danced and even hear the title of the songs, but they don't get the full effect unless they see the cuteness for themselves.  I was happy they did.  Cameras were snapping pictures nonstop, like good first time preschool kids' moms should.  It was a blast.
 
One of the moms said to me that she remembered how Lylah stole about 3 or 5 cookies when the class was supposed to be singing during the Christmas party.  We giggled about it (I was mortified at Christmas--but I realize the humor of the situation now).  You'll never guess who the only child to lick all the icing spoons after the cookies were finished could be!?  Oh, you  guessed Lylah?  Ding, Ding, ding!!  She came away from the serving table with pink icing ALL over her face.  She said, "Oh, mmmm, yumm, yumm, Mommy, I sure love that icing.  Isn't it so very good and pink!?" and smacked her lips.  What a  nut! At least she likes all food and not ONLY "sweeties".

 

2 second fake smile for me after the party

she was way more interested in her goodie bag

a picture in her Valentine's Day shirt I stitched

while watching Northanger Abbey

my first attempt at hand-sewing on a tee-shirt.

Next time I will use a hoop.  I thought it turned out OK.  I made a fun covered 

button hair clip to go with it too. I liked the clip better than the shirt...but no good picture 

Cookies were yummy.  Games were fun.  Candy bag was full enough.  Happy party girl.

So, I can Sew? Preschool sewing project

Over the past few weeks we have been doing  a sewing unit with my 4 and 5 year olds.  They were so excited about the unit.  There was quite a bit of talk about what they could make and for whom.  There was a lot of talk about who can sew and how it is done.  When we first started, they were all pretty sure that it was too hard for them or that they could just make anything right away.

We started slow with practice cards and shoe laces.  Then we progressed to making our own sewing cards, punching holes, making needles out of pipe cleaners, and sewing the card they made them selves.

 

you can see one home-made needle (orange) hanging down from the multiple-legged dog sewing card.  We made them by twisting a pipe cleaner into a needle shape, being careful to leave a hole for an eye to thread the yarn.  This  project was a huge success boosting the children's confidence in their own abilities to do something they thought was too hard at first.

Our next project was a sewing bag or project bag.  I brought in a ton of fabric a lady had given me when she chose not to sew any longer.  Much of the fabric was pretty groovy!  The kids chose the fabric they wanted, cut it to size using a pattern, and helped me sew it with the machine.  

 

cutting the pattern

Sewing the bag

"Hey!  I made this my own self!"  with a giant smile.

  

These were a few of the finished projects.  The child got to push the petal as I directed the fabric and told the child when to stop.  I only almost had my fingers sewn through 3 times. One friend said, " Let's try this baby out!"  They were so excited about this project too.  My goal was to have them work on some hand sewing projects, but I needed somewhere for them to keep works in progress.  So I came up with the  project bag.  They are all the size of a piece of construction paper (our pattern), and have a pocket on the front for needles and thread.  They open and close with a draw string ribbon.  

Our next project was only attempted by a few brave kiddos.  Although many were interested in the tools, not as many were interested in committing the time on the project.  I brought in broadcloth and sewing hoops for some more hand work.  I told the friends they could draw a picture and then use yarn to sew the picture by following the lines.  For this project I brought out real needles (crewel work needles with blunt tips and big eyes) in addition to the plastic needles we had been using.  They were quite impressed to be "REAAAALLY SEWING NOW MISS JENNY"  I write in all caps here because the volume went up with the level of satisfaction in the needles and the project.

There were several aliens and robots in the mix as well as a few hearts.  Lots of good work here.

Our biggest project (and my favorite) was a group project.  We made a tapestry from a piece of burlap fabric stapled to a wooden frame. The whole class really got into this project by learning to thread their own needle, selecting a color of yarn, and making all kinds of stitches.  We had to try hard to remember to put the knot in the back and come up through the back and down through the front instead of looping around the sides.  As the days of working on the tapestry progressed, they began to make stitches that crossed over previous stitches and tied them down.  They began to think of stitch placement and were going for a look with the color and size of yarn.  I introduced buttons and beads to the tapestry on the last days.  It is a true work of art and I love it.  They worked really hard on it and really made a lot of comments telling me how proud they were of the work they accomplished.

 

 

hard at work

We will be keeping our sewing stuff out as a center for the rest of the year and I know there are a few friends in class who will visit the sewing station time after time.  I am so happy we got to do this project. I loved it and the whole class really showed high levels of interest  for our whole 2 weeks.  Much of the amazing imspiration for my unit came from the Sewing School blog.  She has wonderful tips and lots of fun pictures of real kids doing real projects.  I think she even has a book coming out soon.  I am so grateful for all the wonderful blogs out there made by such creative people.  I am inspired daily. 

Classroom Soloist

I happened to have my camera in the classroom the other day when I caught the video above.  I have no idea what she is singing but I love that she is really belting it out.  They were all doing some dress up and some dancing in our dance/ book area during center time.  We always dance together after snack to all kinds of fun songs.  But today they had no music at the time, so I guess Lylah was making up for the lack there of.  She is wearing her favorite thing, the boa, and ends the clip doing her favorite thing, the jump dance.  Hope you liked it.


PS  She is wearing a heart and cherries clip I made last week If you can see it.