I love wool, I wish I had known about this great textile when I was a child. Wool roving dyed many different colors is so appealing to work with. Not only do my little ones love to wet felt with it, I love to needle felt it.

This afternoon I found myself feeling rather uninspired with what to do with the girls. It was a hot afternoon, and I found my brain dragging. So I set them outside to play and I soon joined them with my small basket of different colored wool roving, my felting needles and felting pad.

As I sat there in the shade wondering what I should make, my oldest (almost 4) comes over, asking what I was making. My honest answer was “I don’t know yet”. So I asked her what color should I start with. Wonderfully dyed blue wool was chosen from the basket. Okay, I thought. This could be sky. I loosely needle felted it in place. Then, chose some green for fields…soon, my youngest was also joining in, and we started to design a picture together, with the sun, a road, and a sheep. The questions started, “where does the sheep live?” “What does he eat?” “Who are his friends?” Soon I was telling a story, and we all enjoyed it! I realized that this was just another way to expand our imaginations as well as throwing in some factual learning as well.



My oldest is always asking me to draw her things, so this is just an extension of that concept. We also started making a tree today which we will finish in the coming days. I envision making the leaves really full and adding branches. Then we can add all the animals who live in the tree, and start telling stories to each other about how the animals live/interact with one another. In fact, my 2 year old and 3+ year old are exceptional story tellers. I dare say they are far better at it than I am! ;)

We are finally getting around to cleaning the garage, and while doing so I stumbled upon half a dozen bars of goat’s milk soap. My girls knew what that would mean right away – felted soap! :)



I love this project, particularly with my little ones. I have blogged about it before. It takes minimal time & set up (this was a wonderful mid-morning project for us today). Bonus the kids can make a soapy mess – where they are cleaner than they were when they started. :)

Materials are simple: wool roving in various colors, bars of soap, some bubble wrap, and some hot water (as hot as you can stand to touch). There are two ways to approach it. My 3.5 year old likes to soak the wool in the hot water and drape it over the soap. I find wetting the soap and getting the bubble wrap soapy wet works best. Then I drape the dry wool around the soap, and rub the bar all over with the soapy bubble wrap.

My 2 year old is happy to simply dip small pieces of roving in her own bowl of warm water. I am always amazed how she can be entertained for the morning just by doing this. I put a towel on the table and her lap to catch wet drips. Forming the wool into long “snakes” and “worms” as she calls it – or balling it up to make small balls or even her own rendition of food items…it truly is a wonderful display of imaginative play – and what toddler doesn’t like to play in water?? :)

My 3 year old chooses the colors and dips and drapes, while I then take over with forming the felt by agitating the wool all over the soap with the bubble wrap. She is much more into it now than she was when I first tried this technique earlier this year. Once we are done we put them out in the sun to dry.



They don’t have to look perfect, in fact they will keep felting every time you wash your hands! Just have fun with your pre-schooler, and let their imagination take over.

I normally make my own liquid hand soap using sls-free organic soap base, but I find my little ones can be wasteful pumping out too much. The felted bars have been a wonderful alternative. They still get to make something handmade for the home, and I find felted soap doesn’t get used up as quickly as a plain bar of soap that constantly gets pummeled with water. :)

All the above items, were picked on our morning nature walk. My children are 2 and 3. And where did we do this nature walk? On our property. We do not live in the woods, but in a typical suburban home. I find that in the summer heat none of us really want to be out or away from home for very long, and I am always amazed what the girls can find just on our lawn. I appreciate that they can examine the ground in places where we adults just walk over and find the tiniest delightful plant life and insects. It is also nice, when my husband gets behind cutting the back lawn! That is when most of the gems are found. ;)



For the month of August we are examining shapes and colors in nature. So the girls will spread their finds on the floor and start grouping them by color, then we switch and group by shape, and then look at patterns. My two year old is not so into this unlike my 3 years old (almost 4). So I just let her examine her nature finds as she feels fit. My oldest loves to group and inquire about the different shapes. Once we are done, it is time to light the candle on the nature table and allow them to place the objects as they like onto the table.





It is fascinating to watch them work. My youngest takes mostly to arranging the animal figures on the table, and also scattering her leaves and flowers throughout the table. My oldest likes to group her leaves in a bowl, and her “apples” in another bowl (small crab apples from our flowering crab tree) – like with like. Then she takes to arranging the flowers most carefully in their small multi-vase.









Of course, once they are finished, blowing out the candle is enjoyed by both. :)

August is almost here, so this week I have been sorting through our pre-school curriculum after taking a month off of any sort of “structured” rhythm. This is our second year working with a Waldorf Inspired Pre-school curriculum (although it would be more appropriate to call it a rhythm). We use Earthschooling as our foundation & inspiration.

With my oldest turning 4 soon, I wanted to get more into the activities provided in the lessons. Last year is what I would call a learning curve year for me. It can be really overwhelming to sift through the materials for the first time, and grasping the philosophy…particularly when the educational background you are used to is the traditional regurgitation/dictation/memorization. Even though pre-school age is all about songs and stories and handiwork and free play…it is harder than it looks to integrate these activities into day to day life. The whole concept of song & storytelling means getting out of my comfort zone as well. I am not much of a singer & have always relied on books to tell the stories!

Last year we dabbled here and there mostly concentrating on circle time and crafts/baking. I worked from a spiral notebook, and when I went back this year to review my notes it was really hard to follow. I decided I had to get a setup that was easy to follow and inspiring. I also figured it would double as a keepsake for the girls someday.



I have a few of these really nice hard cover writing books mostly given as gifts. They are so pretty and well made that I put them aside & never had the heart to mark in them. Now I finally have a good reason to use them. The main book would be a reference of our verses, songs & nursery rhymes that we sing/recite at circle time. This is done by memory, but I always find it’s good to have a reference. I printed them on some pretty paper & arranged them according to month/season in the book.



I had two hardcover spiral notebooks that worked perfectly for a recipe book and lesson outlines.







So far I am organized up to December. Already I see the material “click” now that I have it laid out in not only an organized, but appealing manner. The books are simply irresistible to touch and I know I’ll enjoy referring to them each day. Now, if I can transform myself into a storyteller I’m in good shape…I’ll even accept my terrible renditions of children’s songs. :)

Above: wet felted soap, not quite dry! :)

This is an easy project for beginner wool felters. It works up quickly and the results are lovely. I admit this project is more of my guilty pleasure – the girls aren’t so interested with felting soap as they are for other objects like balls or play food. :)

I acquired some beautiful bars of handmade goat’s milk soap at the New Hampshire Wool Show, and couldn’t wait to felt them. All you need is a little wool roving, some warm water & bubble wrap.



Pull the wool roving apart & cover the soap as even as you can. Once it is completely covered, I find applying some warm water (as hot as you can get it from the tap) with a spray bottle works well. I don’t bother making the water soapy since the bar being felted produces enough suds to felt the wool. Then rub the bubble wrap gently all over the soap until the wool sticks together forming a felted layer. Rinse gently and squeeze the excess water out, and leave to dry. The soap in the top picture is still wet, it looks less mottled when dry.

Felted soap feels lovely on the hands, and also acts as a gentle exfoliant. The beauty is that with use the wool continues to felt so it continues to look better and better every time you wash your hands. :) A wonderful treat for your family or a great handmade gift that takes no time at all to make.

The girls received some plastic play food for a Christmas present, and we were inspired to felt them! Wool felt is a far more pleasurable tactile material than plastic, and we were thankful for this gift as it gave us a great base for the felted final product.

We started this project in the winter, but between travelling and my tiredness from the first trimester, we set it aside until recently.



above: felted orange, strawberry, lime, lemon & donut (behind).

We started by covering the plastic food with a bit of duct tape. The tape added some roughness to the surface in order for the wool roving to stick. Then we began winding the roving around the food, adding warm water & soap. We found that bubble wrap was the best tool to rub the wool back & forth causing the friction needed to make felt.

When completed, I rinsed the felted food in hot water and squeezed out the excess water gently. Then I stuck them in the dryer on low spin, adding a blanket so that they didn’t bounce around too much.

Unfortunately I do not have step by step pictures of the process, but it is fairly easy to do. Simply play around to get the feel for wet felting the wool. You really can’t go wrong. And small children (mine are 2 and 3) love to help & watch the project develop…as well as playing with the final product!



“Take a picture of me, Mom!” :)

We finally played around with our Farina Grain Mill today. I did a lot of research on manual grain mills & was stoked to find this variety at one of my all time fave stores. This one is commonly used in Waldorf Kindergartens.



Today we merely conditioned it, grinding a small amount of grain on both the coarse & fine settings to get the stones moving.





Tomorrow hopefully…we will make some flour & bake some bread. :)

I especially love spring crafts…so many ideas & potential – it’s like your mind wakes up from a winter’s hibernation. Sophie & I finished our Mother Earth today and placed her on our nature table. It is inspired by a project in the book “The Easter Craft Book” by Thomas & Petra Berger.



She is made of wool and mostly wrapped into place around natural pipe cleaners – although I did give her a few stabs with the felting needles just to give her a bit of strength in case little hands get a hold of her. :)

This past summer we did a project where we wet felted wool to make a sheet of felt. After it was completed it took us a couple of months to do something with it. Something about the colors (purple/blue on one side, yellow/blue on the other) reminded me of a star lit sky. So we decided to cut stars out of it to hang inside & outside.



Star shaped cookie cutters made a great template. I am always picking up metal cookie cutters of various shapes. Not only for making cookies, but they have such a practical use in many craft projects.





After I got the star patterns drawn out in various sizes I got to cutting.



The remnant felt I will keep for other projects, even if it just ends up as stuffing. :)



I attached string with a darning needle. I the attached the top of the string to a paper clip which we will use to help hold the star in place.



We hung a few of them outside…



But then we decided they would be most enjoyed inside hung up in the play area.




See my post on needle-felting/pre-needle felting with cookie cutters for another idea on how to make shapes for a decorative mobile.

Back in October Sophie & I could not wait to get our hands on the wonderful orange colored wool we got from the Vermont wool festival. A few months back, I watched a great video on pre-needle felting from Kristie Burns’ Waldorf Inspired Earthschooling curriculum. I decided to needle felt along side Sophie so to compare the difference.


I collect cookie cutters in various shapes just for these projects.











Mine is coming along via felting needles…



Sophie’s progress via water & friction…



My pumpkin



Sophie’s completed pumpkin



A side by side comparison (Sophie is age 3).

This particular felting project is not limited to just pre-schoolers. In fact, I enjoy the pre-needle felting process as well; I wanted to needle felt along side simply for comparison.

To find out more about Earthschooling, visit Kristie’s website, The BEarth Institute (pronounced Be-earth). :) You can also purchase the video for this & other wonderful projects on the video download page

I couldn’t wait to get home & unpack the bounty from the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival. I’m posting this mainly for my friends who have an appreciation for wool…and anyone who is curious as to what you can purchase at a Sheep & Wool festival (Sorry, we passed on actually buying the sheep, as tempting as it was! ;)).





My wool bin is is now full & my working baskets are filled with autumn themed colors. :)





I was able to obtain many different types of wool. My favorite is definitely the curly stuff…it will make great hair for dolls!



Wool au naturelle. Okay it’s washed I didn’t go quite that natural. ;) Look forward to experimenting with carding & dying this. :)



Speaking of dye I found a starter kit that is gentler than using conventional dyes. I think I will experiment with food based dyes as well.







So I bought some yarn. AND some knitting needles, singles & circular. “But you don’t knit!” you say. The show definitely inspired me to give it a try. I got some great advice in finding a starter needle size. I haven’t tried to knit since I was like, 10 years old! Now to find the time… :)