Wet Felting Soap

As sun poured in through the windows, I decided now was the time to get out our wet felting kits and get soapy!  I know there are lots of tutorials on the internet about how to wet felt (there’s a lovely one here) but I decided to take the easy option and buy some kits at the same place I buy my wood roving.  We’re really lucky here in Ottawa to have a diverse range of businesses and Wabi Sabi is one of my favourites.  They sell beautiful wool, wool roving and all the supplies you could need.  They also have some very cute kits, easy to pull out and know you have everything you need.

The process was really easy, wrap soap bar in lovely roving, wrap supplied piece of yarn around that to help hold it in place, then dip in a bowl of warm water.  After that the instructions recommended using a ziploc bag to felt the soap in.   I found this worked really well and helped prevent the soap whizzing off and frustrating small people.  Mummy got involved helping with this part as it took about 10 minutes of rubbing to felt the soap which is a long time to little peeps.

The finished pebble of wool is so tactile I know there will be a lot more hand washing going on around here!  The soap in the kit was more perfumed than I would usually buy so I’d definitely reserve it for hands only, but what could be more fun than lathering up with soft wool?  Lovely.  Now that we’ve worked through the process once I’d be confident doing it again and am thinking these would be great Christmas gifts that the boys could make themselves.  Plus it’s an excuse to indulge my soap fetish an opportunity to purchase locally made products.  Ahem.

What favourite wooly projects have you tried recently?

Sensing Fun

Since Neirin finished preschool I’ve been conscious of trying to create more activities with him in mind.  I’ve been pinning lots of different ideas for sensory activities that I can use with both boys and so far this week it has been going really well.

The first try, boxes of soapy water, was a resounding success and had the happy by product of clean toys!

I love how something so simple can be so soothing and entertaining at the same time, Neirin particularly enjoys moving water around, pouring it from one vessel to another and rescuing his toys from the depths of the tiny ocean.

Our next outing was more ambitious, I created spaghetti sensory boxes that I saw here using a corn pasta that I didn’t like and was glad to be rid of.  It was stickier and dried out a bit quickly so I think I would use a gluten pasta next time.  The boys wrapped and cut the pasta, using it to create scenes with their toys and seemed to enjoy the experience.  The chickens also got the benefit of an afternoon pasta snack which they scoffed in record time!

Neirin played with the pasta for about half an hour before it got too sticky, he then moved on to the bathroom sink where he spent another 20 minutes or so washing his hands and cleaning his toys.  It is fascinating to me how a sink of water never loses its appeal no matter how fancy a Mummy tries to get!

This morning I broke out the Cloud Sand that we made a couple of weeks ago, the boys still really enjoy it and it gave them a good half hour of fun; for me that justifies the cleanup required as no matter how hard we try that stuff just goes all over the place!

My goal is to have some kind of sensory activity available each day, in addition to outside play and pool time, all valuable large body work.  Though Huwyl happily joins in I’m focusing my attention on Neirin’s needs for this one.  Moving as we are into the more complex emotional work of a nearly seven year old (gulp) I sometimes forget how straightforward the threes are.  Play, food and attention at regular intervals really do cut it as far as my little chap is concerned.

Oh and cuddles.  Lots and lots of cuddles.  At Mummy’s request of course.