Tutorial-Felting with Kids

Peanut and I made felt yesterday.  I had heard about zip-lock bag felting with children from a friend of mine and searched, in vain, for a tutorial.  So, I decided to create one for others who may be interested in giving this a try.  Needle-felting is tricky for little fingers, but this wet felting method is fun and easy. 

First, gather materials.  One sandwhich sized zip-lock bag, wool roving and warm soapy water. 

   

Next, lay out the design.

 

Once you are happy with the design, insert it carefully into the zip-lock bag.  Next pour in enough warm soapy water to completely saturate the wool.

 

Once the wool is wet, lay the bag flat on an absorbant towel and starting from the bottom of the bag, press with your hand flat moving it towards the top of the bag squeezing out most of the excess water.

Now is the fun part.  Seal the bag at the top and start working the wool.  Poking it and pounding it with little fists until the wool becomes firm and felt like.

After the wool has felted, remove from the bag and gently rinse in water, alternating hot then cold.  Roll the felt in a towel to squeeze out any excess water, and lay flat to dry.  Here are our three felt squares.

While the felt dried Peanut finger painted some gift wrap.

Once the felt was dry, we made gifts...just in time for Mother's Day.

We left one piece as it was and simply framed it.  Peanut has been spending alot of time with my mom in her garden and has been tracking the growth of her peonies.  So when I asked what he wanted to make for Grandma, he knew right away...Peonies. 

With the second piece of felt, I made a needlebook.  Two "buttons" cut from scraps of the felt wrapped with string makes a nice closure.  I stitched craft felt inside to hold the needles.

The third piece I cut up and made a brooch.

   

Here they are...all wrapped up.

Comments

[meg]

very sweet! and thanks for the tutorial. i want to try that sometime...

[Sarah]

What a talented little peanut you've grown!

[Leah Adams]

Super tutorial and even better art. You've created precious memories for Mother's Day - yours just came a little early.

[Rachael]

What a great idea. Sure beats the macaroni necklace.

[Veronica TM]

thank you so much for this awesome tutorial, kristin!! i think i have to wait a few months, but i can't wait to do this with f!
i love all the gifts, your mom is going to love them too.

[stephanie s]

excellent!!! i especially love the picture of peanut leaning in to watch you pour water into the bag....

[Biscuitbear]

Great tutorial, I will try it with Puni!

[jennifer w.]

What a great technique! Thank you so much for providing the details. Absolutely LOVE the framed peonies.

[carolyn]

terrific project. I like wrapping wool around large hotel soap and making a colorful soapy washcloth as gifts.

[risa]

i love, love, love this idea! i wonder if i can find enough wool roving here to do this project with all of the boys i work with at the treatment center. they would adore this!

[Carol]

Great tutorial. I have been wanting to felt with my daughter but wasn't too sure about the needles. She's pretty careful but even so. This is a much better alternative and we will try it out this week. Thanks for the great tip!

[Sonya]

The plastic bag is SHEER GENIUS - do you hear me woman? I have considered trying wet felting with kids, but have been hesitant. But this? This just takes so many variable and chucks them out the window. Are there things that you don't do with ease and panache? Lovely and brilliant.

[Jackie]

Really fantastic! What a great way to make felt and get little hands involved!

[Jenny]

I did felting using the plastic bag technique with my art students a few years ago, but we just made pieces, not a picture...yours turned out beautifully! If I'd only known!

[jen]

this is so great. i will have to try it with my two punkins. your mom is going to love what peanut made. i can hear his little voice now "peonies mama"

[Jen]

Oh, fabulous! I can't wait to try this with the kids! Thanks for the tutuorial!

Wow, that was a lot of exclamation points.

[Kajsa]

Wow!!! I am so impressed! And thanks so much for the tutorial, I have to try it with my kids too. And you made such great things out of the felt.

AND you've been tagged by me at my blog.

[little jenny wren]

Well done and thanks for the tutorial. I have been thinking of doing some felting with my daughters class at school and this seems like the perfect way to "contain" the process especially when you are supervising 20 at the same time. Thanks again and the presents you made from the felt are great.

[emily elizabeth]

How fun! Now, were the flowers peanuts choice, or yours ;)

[carolyn]

This is wonderful.

[monica]

how wonderful... this is really really something... is it only for kids or can grownup have a go? :)

[paper-and-string]

hello hello hello :-)
I bring news of a freebie win...that's right, you win :-) please send me your address so I can post you your prize !!!
thanks xxx

[mimi k]

great instructions for felting- I'm going to try it out soon. I'm sure it works for grown-ups too, right?

[tongue in cheek]

I am glad for the lesson, you make learning fun!

[Lucy]

Thanks for posting the tutorial. I hate it when you can't find the tute you are looking for. Thanks for taking the time to share with the rest of us. I will have to give this a try with my little ones.

[Simmy]

What a great idea and so nice to see the finished product too. I wish I'd been there.......

[Tara Larsen Chang]

What a terrific idea. I am so enamored of the idea of felting - but haven't been able to extract enough time outside of my Big Job in the studio to do ANYTHING crafty.... Hopefully it will ease up later this year?

In the meantime, I am back in the country (after the most amazing foreign vacation ever) and hope to at least be able to keep up with blogs now. :-)

[abbyjane]

This is really super! Thank you! I'm going to go get some roving and give it a try with my 3-year-old. I love the wrapping paper, too. Awesome creative mom!

[Bitter Betty]

What a beautiful Post... Happy Mother's day Kristin! Hope your day is as lovely as you are!

[Corry]

Really a great idea, it's almost magic!!

[Mirre]

Absolutely wonderful!
Happy Mother's Day!

[Courtney]

great tutorial...can't wait to try it...

[tash at poppyseeds]

Kristin, how could you have known i needed that tutorial so much my dear? Oh i am so excited to do this with my art classes - Big Up to You! and also guess what You Have been Tagged.

[Zabrina]

I never did that!! That's so cool to make with kids. Mine are getting crazy about crafs, since I let them help around me...
oh, thanks for visiting me. I keep my eyes on your blog and I visit everytime I can!
Take Care!

[stephanie]

that was wonderful!! fun thing to do with 'big' kids too....like me!!!

Lovely peonies!!!

[tash at poppyseeds]

Hi Kristin, thank you so much for this technique, we did it! with about 100 kids, and they all loved it, we found boats on the sea were really good, as the design distorted in most fantabulour ways. Here are some photos
http://poppyseeds.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/printing.html

[jen]

fabulous tutorial -- thanks so much for posting it! i cannot wait to try it!

[Gwyn]

Oh that is an awesome way to do it - last time I tried felting with the kids we all got so frustrated we all had a meltdown at the same time - not pretty!

[Laura]

Fantastic tutorial I just ordered some roving and I'll be waiting for the mail with even more excitment now. THanks

[Mary Beth]

What a fun idea for Mothers' Day.

[maya]

That is fantastic!! Definitely going on my list of activities for when my daughter gets just a bit older ...

[Jox]

My kids love needle felting in cookie cutters (which cuts down on accidents with needles) and they have helped me with wet felted projects but this idea is fantastic especially for younger children.
I will definitely be trying this idea, thanks for sharing.

[ohtoseethesunset]

I found your post via google search "wet felting with children". It's exactly what I'd hoped for-- an easy child-friendly non-frustrating way of wet felting! Thanks so much, I can't wait to try it!

[Mama Randa Morning Glory]

Thanks so much for posting this. We tried it out last night and enjoyed it. Of course, it works better with abstract designs rather than detailed pictures since the pieces inevitably get moved around in the pounding process. Nevertheless, it is a project that we will definately be doing again soon!

[erika]

So lovely! Thank you for the tutorial!

[Rachel]

Those are wonderful! Thank you so much for the tute. I would really like to try this sometime.

[val]

lovely!

[Arlyna]

Thank you very much for this. I was inspired and immediately went to buy roving wool which I've never used before. This is certainly be something I'll get the kids to do this weekend.

[arlyna]

Hi! We did this yesterday when it was impossible to go out in the wet Shanghai weather. As this is our first attempt and first encounter with roving wool, not sure if ours turned out the way it's supposed to... is there a certain thickness or amount of wool we need to start with? We did a thin version...

[Pippa]

Thanks for the great tutorial, great advice will do it right now!

[Sarah]

thanks...off to buy ziploc bags for a fun sunday