One of the goals when I started creating Tracy summer school last year was to expose the boys to varied skill sets. I had found tons of great camps but they were purely concentrated on one category: i.e. sports, science, etc. I wanted the boys to spend their time learning all about various topics to help achieve a more well rounded experience. So when I was in the brainstorming part of the planning process for each letter, and came upon S, I knew right away it would be sewing. I debated signing them up for a basics class at our local HipStitch, but wanted them to not only learn the basics but be able to have something tangible at the end of the lesson-something to help them understand the process from beginning to end. Therefore, I decided to keep the lesson at home and they most certainly learned that it takes a lot of effort to sew!
We ran through morning circle time and the pledge before we grabbed a pillow and hunkered down for our story time. Although long, Pockets is chock full of enchanting pictures and a beautiful story line. Some of the language is a bit over an elementary aged level, so I replaced words here and there. Surprisingly, their attention was kept the whole time and they truly enjoyed it.
We then listened to a read aloud of another relevant and engaging story, Something from Nothing (Gilman) on youtube through our Apple TV ((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHSLtUKcu1w). The kiddos thought it was so cute and loved how the mice too utilized the boy’s scraps of fabric! We jumped up after story and shook out our sleepy legs and giggles and then it was on to workbooks! There were quite a few grammar, phonics, and math sheets today. The majority of the sheets were from Enchanted Learning and Education.com.
Kiddos were super excited to head downstairs to check out the snack creation for today! I have to admit, these Licorice Spools came out super cute-almost too cute to eat! I found them under a Mad Hatter party post (http://www.toppartyideas.com/madhatter-spools-thread-dessert/#top) and immediately fell in love with their connection to our theme. All you need are mini nutter butters (peanut butter removed), cherry pull apart Twizzlers, pretzel rods, and red frosting (serves as glue for the nutter butter to adhere to the pretzel rod). I actually found it easier to wrap the cherry licorice string around the pretzel first and then “glue” on the tops of the spool. Needless to say, the kiddos were in awe and so excited!
After those were pulled completely apart, lol, we headed back upstairs to sew our sock animals for what I imagined would be a really long time, but I had no idea just how long it would really end up taking. Let’s just say that the finishing touches were done after a break to the pool in the afternoon, dinner AND desert. We snuggled up on the couch and busted through the three together and FINALLY finished them up. Phew.
If you do use these kits, prepare some of the first steps as I did to save some time. I lined up the socks with the patterns I cut out for the three younger kiddos and was going to have the older kiddos do their own but decided against it last minute the night before-which I am glad I did, as they needed help with accuracy too. In reality, the older ones (again ages 8) were able to do some of the stitches but we had to go over them as often they were too wide and stuffing was coming out. The younger were really only able to add on any decoration (i.e. ears, collars, etc) and stuff! They did learn though just how much effort it takes and it led to great conversation about clothing and others items we own that require a needle and thread!
enchantedyankee 