Seasonal and Festivals

This is a fun exercise to do before putting needle and thread to cloth. Students gain confidence as fiber artists using familiar materials and creating their own design. The quality of a crayon mark often foretells the quality of a stitch.

First, students practice making even, rhythmic, colorful dashes with stick crayons on strips of watercolor paper. They copy how the teacher carefully makes small, equal-size marks, while thoughtfully leaving equal-size spaces in between the marks.

Outdoors and in-person classes watch from an appropriate social distance as the teacher demonstrates on a large piece of paper with block crayons. They see how to build up the beeswax by going over each mark a few times to create a thick resist for the watercolor paint. The paint rolls off the areas where the crayon marks are placed.

Make good use of watercolor paper scraps by turning them into bookmarks, gift tags,…

We have a long tradition at our school of 8th graders having 1st grade buddies. The 8th and 1st graders often read books together, build fairy houses in the garden, and play games at recess. This year, due to Covid-19 and separation of class cohorts, both classes are feeling a bit sad that they are not allowed to spend time together.

With Michaelmas just around the corner I thought it would be fun to have the 8th graders make a gift for their 1st grade buddies. We are making Michaelmas stars! The 8th graders will stitch the stars and add their buddy's initial. They will present the stars on the day of our Michaelmas celebration.

I'm looking for more ideas of gifts that the 1st graders can make for their 8th graders and vice versa. If anyone has ideas please share!