This activity is a wonderful activity for fine motor coordination and is loved by girls all ages.

We have  been doing it in our art camp as a regular activity and as a filler activity. The little girls who are between 5-8 absolutely love this activity and its a great transition activity. When they are waiting to go to another activity or if they finish a specific activity before the rest of the kids than they go to work on their sewing’s. The truth is my 11 yr old son asked to do it also and he took it up so its not only for girls.

The idea is for the kids to sew with either one color or many, create a pattern and THEN they can create something out of it. Its not competitive and they love to sit around d and talk while they sew.

You can make wallets, bookmarks, frames or just plain wall hangings out of the finished sewing’s. It’s probably a good idea to know what the kids will be making out of it before they start so  you can cut the pieces accordingly.

Unless the kids are old enough you need to be available to thread the needles for them and then to knot it at the end. You need to use very blunt yarn needles for this and make sure the material you get has large enough holes.

I have enclosed a few images that show the type of yarn we use and some of the sewing in progress and finished.

The material has to be bought in an art supply store, I actually found an image in an art supply store and you can see from here the kind of canvas or plastic  sewing pieces you can use, plus you can get the large blunt needles that you would need for this activity at stores like this also

Years ago when doing this type of activity I used to be able to get stainless steel blunt needles but when my daughter ordered for camp this summer she got plastic ones. They are a bit blunter I guess but they bend to much for my taste.

Gray clay or other colors hardening clay has to be stored properly if you want to be able to use it over and over again. I explained in another post briefly, why this clay is better than play dough and I showed you how to cut it. (I have tended to use the gray but the white and the red works equally as well)

This short post is to teach you how to store it.

First you have the children roll the clay they were using into  ball the size of an orange or a grapefruit. Then using their thumbs as shown above, make a small indentation in the ball.

Take a small bit of water and pour it slowly into the hole.

You need to supervise the children when they are doing this at first as they can go water crazy with water splashing all over the place. there needs to be a very small bit of water put into the hole.

Once the water is in, you gently smush some of the clay with your fingers over the hole.

The children can then lay the balls of clay in a  plastic container. Originally I had learned that when storing the clay you need to first put it into a plastic bag, then put a damp rag over it and cover it tightly in the plastic container.

I did however discovered firstly that I don’t need a plastic bag. I then saw that I  don’t think I need the wet rag as it often gets moldy.

I think you will be fine if you follow the above directions and close the plastic container tightly.

This way when the children are ready to use the clay again, they just lift it out of the container and they are ready to go.

If you are not sure exactly what this gray clay is you can check it out in its 5 lb form here Marblex Gray Clay. It also comes in 25 lb.. which is suitable  if  you are going to be using it for a large group for a long period of time.