Let's get woolly!

So my middle daughter's preschool class is starting a project on balls. They will be exploring the many types, and uses of balls. I had recently discovered the wonders of using felted wool balls in the dryer to fluff your laundry without the added chemicals of fabric softeners.


Here is the link to where I got instructions to make felted wool dryer balls:

http://bnyce.tenyearsof.us/goodmama-make-your-own-wool-dryer-balls

My first thought was visiting the class and teaching them how to make their very own wool laundry balls. My kids are pretty understanding of doing things more natural and crunchy and actually get excited about all the cool home projects that come from that. I was a little unsure about how cool it would be for twenty five 3-5 year old kids to make a hard as a rock set of balls to take home and put in the dryer.

Thus yet another Google search was sparked. I was on a quest to find information about homemade TOY balls that could be made easily with a large group of preschool age kids.

Voila I came across several sites about felting wool to make toys... I was shocked at the sheer number of toys that can be made with felted wool. But I needed to focus... Her project is balls.

I came across a cool blog: http://crunchyparent.com/

On this site this awesome PhD mom, shares how to hand-felt balls using wool batting/roving. She also shares a shortcut to make the same style of balls using the convenience of the modern washing machine. Awesome!

Make sure you check back often as I will be posting my progress in turning 4 pounds of carded wool batting into at least 25 soft wool balls (might even splurge and add jingle bells). Then I will be sharing pictures of the process of teaching the kids how to decorate their ball cores with kool-aid dyed wool (for the privacy of the preschool kids, I will only post pictures of my kid working on her ball).

Check out this site for awesome instructions on how to kool-aid dye wool.

http://cyberseams.com/article/105501/craft_basics/how_to_dye_wool_roving_with_kool_aid.html

Here is one about dying wool yarn, with neat color examples!

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html