Felting Eggs for Spring

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Ed. Note:  I recently learned that the felted eggs and chicks project was a combined effort of several volunteers (which makes sense since we have more than 40 children in grades 1, 2 and 3!).  Many thanks to our crafting volunteers, Genevieve, Erin, and Heather W., as well as to the parents who volunteered in the classroom to help students with their projects.  

The grade 1, 2 and 3 students made felted eggs last week in honour of spring (which actually felt like it visited us last weekend!).

Wet felting is a really tactile and accessible form of handwork for children.  Here is how we did it at school.  The children started with two pieces of wool roving, which is a piece of wool that has been combed and twisted a bit.  These were layered in alternating directions around a plastic Easter egg (the first piece wrapped around the egg vertically, the second wrapped horizontally).  After each piece was wrapped, the wool was moistened (sometimes dunked) with warm soapy water, and then gently (or vigorously) massaged until the wool firmed up around the egg.  The heat and friction of the rubbing causes the wool roving to felt, creating a cover for the object inside. 032 038

After the kids were done, the teachers took the eggs home and tossed them in the clothes dryer, where heat and friction causes the wool to tighten and felt even more.  The felted egg covers can then be cut away from the egg, and in our case, were finished with blanket stitching around the opening.

The felted eggs were sweet enough, I thought.  But I was dumbstruck to discover that each of these eggs was to house a little peep of its own.  Our very own Michele Ball, parent volunteer extraordinaire, hand-stitched over 40 little chicks to go home with our children’s felted eggs.  I watched her make one, working nimbly with tiny pieces of wool felt, as a baby bird emerged from her fingers.

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My son came home with his egg and chick, and played with it, along with a nest he made during a PINE trip two days after the felting project.  Everything soon found its way to our nature table at home, where our treasures are kept safe and sound.

Anyone who doesn’t think one person can change the world ought first to consider Michele and her little chicks.  For I do believe 40 little worlds were changed for the better last week alone.