Category: Sewing

Gifts from the Hands

Some of the most cherished gifts our family has received over the years have been made by the hands of the people we love. In fact we look forward to those gifts every year as they’ve kind of become a tradition. Sometimes those gifts made with love were born out of necessity due to limited resources available to go out and purchase store bought gifts, but many times they were made and given out of love for the recipient(s) of the gift. For example, many years ago, very close friends of ours began making us a delicious candy-like treat that can only be described as “Christmas Crack” because once you start eating it, you can’t stop! We love the candy and our friends and look forward to that gift every year! After all, how can you look at, use or consume that wonderful gift without thinking fond thoughts of the talented person/people who took the time to make it for YOU! Why not teach your students how they can use their talents, time and resources to make gifts of love to give to those in their lives that they cherish most during this Christmas and Holiday season?

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Equipment Activities: What am I?

My classroom runs much smoother when my students are engaged in interactive activities. That’s one of the reasons why I POST.IT.NOTESlove these activities! The first is a fun little game that gets students up, moving around and tests their knowledge of basic equipment used in the kitchen, the sewing room, or the nursery. All you need is a list of equipment and some post-it-notes or index cards. This activity can be prepared as a one time use activity or you can make reusable cards with yarn. This activity is very versatile and can be used like a pretest to see what students know about the basic equipment used in each area or it could be used as a review activity after teaching about them. Another fun review game is played on the laptop or electronic devices such as phones, ipads, tablets, etc. using a web-based technology called Kahoot. Students beg to play this fun, interactive game and are very competitive. Try them out and be prepared to see your students engaged, learning and having fun all at the same time!

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Recycled Sweater Challenge

Lately I’ve seen a lot of really innovative projects made out of old sweaters, especially on Pinterest. This got me thinking about what a great project this would be for my students to practice the concept of recycling or repurposing materials. So I visited my local thrift store and lucky for me they had a clearance rack of clothing, much of it old wool sweaters. I gathered as many as I could find into my cart and headed for the check out. The possibilities that could be made with all of these sweaters were endless! I couldn’t wait to challenge my students and see how creative they could be and teach them to recycle/repurpose as well as teach basic sewing skills at the same time.

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The Power of Purple: Shaken Baby Syndrome & The Period of Purple Crying

While Shaken Baby Syndrome might be a familiar term associated with child abuse, the Period of Purple Crying may not be. The two terms are closely related as the constant crying associated with purple crying may lead one to violently shake their child. This lesson educates students about both to hopefully decrease the risks of both occurring in the future. This lesson also includes a fairly quick and easy community service project for students of all ages and abilities to complete to help spread information about the important cause.

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Thanksgiving Lessons, Worksheets, PowerPoints

Here are a few holiday ideas to either help your department raise money, fit in some extra holiday excitement, or comply with a half day schedule. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Bedtime Fears & Fear Me Not Community Service Lessons

This amazing lesson is the Winner of our Child Development Lesson Plan Competition! The goal of this lesson is to explore bedtime issues/fears of children & how to respond to them. Students will also create a community service project called “Fear-Me-Not” characters to help children in abuse shelters feel more secure and safe during their stay.

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Preemie Caps

I felt as if the children didn’t truly understand the size of a premature baby until I presented them with the Preemie Caps project. Using the sewing machine students will make very basic stitches to make hats for premature babies that eventually get donated to a local Children’s Hospital.

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Tie up your Administrator: Design Challenge

This creative lesson is a design challenge that reaches beyond your classroom. Students are put in groups and assigned an administrator to interview and then design a tie for. This lesson focuses on the customer side of the fashion design world where customers are an integral part of choosing what they wear and what they’ll pay for. Of course a bonus is that administrators get to see what you do in your classroom!

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Little Dresses for Africa

Want an easy sewing project that help your students and school feel good too? Nancy’s Notions, a popular sewing tools & pattern store have come up with this charitable project for African children–a Pillow case re-purposed into a little girl’s dress.

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