Here's what we've been making at the preschool.
Using beads we made in school the children created sweet bracelets and necklaces for their moms.
This is how we made them.
Gather materials: wool roving, a bowl of warm water, dish soap and eager children to start the wet felting process. In this photo below, you can see the roving and also the wet felted "snakes" (as the children liked to call them).
To begin, pull out small bits of roving and lay them in a pile. By wrapping one color around another beautiful patterns in the beads can be made. Once you get a good sized pile of wool, as seen in the photo below on the left hand side...
...have the children begin to roll the roving between their palms to get a good feel of the motion of the movement.
Take the bowl of warm water and very gently roll the wool on the top of the water to try and saturate it evenly.
Once the wool is completely wet, squeeze out excess water and add a bead of dish soap along the side. Then begin rolling the wool between your palms, very lightly at first until the roving begins to bind. After a few minutes there is a noticeable change to the wool as it begins to turn into felt.
With a very sharp scissors, cut the "snake" up into discs, which are the beads.
Once there are plenty of beads, you can begin stringing them. We used clear nylon beading cord which requires a lobster clasp that I attached for the children. I would imagine using elastic cord for jewelry making would work just fine and the children would only have to knot it together.
By now my kids have become quite skilled at using a needle.
They all turned out beautifully.
Don't you agree?
That's a really pretty necklace!
Posted by: Sarah | May 08, 2009 at 04:59 AM
They are gorgeous. Lucky mums.
Posted by: Jolene Martin | May 08, 2009 at 05:58 AM
these are beautiful! lucky moms!
Posted by: mayaluna | May 08, 2009 at 06:12 AM
Fabulous! Thank you for the inspiration...we'll be trying this soon. Happy Mother's Day to you and all of those lucky moms who will be receiving those beautiful necklaces.
Posted by: Lucia | May 08, 2009 at 06:21 AM
Oh, I agree!
I've only found roving in tiny expensive amounts in one shop around here.
Posted by: UK lass in US | May 08, 2009 at 09:20 AM
Woohaa. love it (and your blog)!
Thanks for the great tutorial.
Love, Daan (The Netherlands)
Posted by: Daan | May 08, 2009 at 09:49 AM
These are exquisite! I am tempted to make these with some of the roving that I got from KnitSonya a year back. So far I've just made the morels. My mom wears lots of necklaces, but I know she has nothing like this. That's it. I'm doing it!
Sara
Posted by: sara | May 08, 2009 at 09:50 AM
g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s.
xxx
Posted by: cathygaubert | May 08, 2009 at 09:54 AM
I think the Moms are going to be really impressed by what their kids made. The finished jewelry looks a lot more complicated to make then they are. Great project!
Posted by: Julie | May 08, 2009 at 10:52 AM
About how long does the whole process take? I'm wondering if it's something I could do with the Story Hour kids next year. So pretty!
Posted by: sarah | May 08, 2009 at 11:12 AM
i agree! they are beautiful and i'm tempted to try it myself!
happy, happy mother's day, k!
Posted by: jen | May 08, 2009 at 12:09 PM
That's a great idea for mother's day gifts! I made something similar with the kids I nanny for recently, and they became gnome cookies rather than beads. It was very fun.
Posted by: Louise | May 08, 2009 at 12:11 PM
How beautiful! I can hear the proud mother sniffs already.
Posted by: Jaci | May 08, 2009 at 02:27 PM
These are amazing!
I love seeing those little hands working. Great stuff.
Posted by: kate | May 08, 2009 at 03:26 PM
What a fantastic project. I'm sure there will proud mommas to go along with those proud children!
Posted by: amy | May 08, 2009 at 04:40 PM
They are beautiful!! How fun to swish wool around in sudsy soap! I bet the kids had a blast!
Posted by: regina | May 08, 2009 at 05:57 PM
Oh, absolutely! So wonderful, I *must* try this with my kiddos! Your kids did so great.
Posted by: greetingarts | May 09, 2009 at 12:28 AM
i wish one of my children went to school at willow house. i LOVE those necklaces. xoxo
Posted by: jenb | May 09, 2009 at 06:50 PM
So lovely.
Posted by: taimarie | May 09, 2009 at 09:49 PM
GENIAL!!!! Precioso de verdad! Muchas gracias por tu mail, me ha ilusionado mucho. Todo bien en Roma! BESOS querida amiga!
Posted by: Rid | May 10, 2009 at 04:06 AM
Kristin, I am always in awe of the projects that you do with your preschoolers. It's not just that the end result is always so beautiful, from these necklaces to the woven landscapes, but more that they are right there in the process - so evidently involved in elbow-grease of the making. I know, I know, you probably do A LOT of prep work, but I'll bet your kids are skilled with a needle and on top of that, they have the cleanest finger nails around!
Posted by: Sonya | May 10, 2009 at 02:55 PM
Amazing project!
Posted by: Rachel | May 10, 2009 at 03:41 PM
Sigh. I want my son to go to your preschool. Maybe if we don't send him to kindergarten in the fall...
Posted by: Anna - Three Sneaky Bugs | May 10, 2009 at 05:30 PM
These are GORGEOUS! I'll be linking.
Posted by: Rachel | May 10, 2009 at 09:39 PM
I saw these on flickr and was instantly smitten! I would certainly wear one of those with pride if any of my children had brought one home! Beautiful and creative!
Posted by: Jackie | May 11, 2009 at 02:00 PM
Yes I do agree and I am so grateful for the tutorial as I have always wondered how wet felting worked. Wonderful job on creating a mother's day gift that I am sure the mum's really loved.
Posted by: josie | May 11, 2009 at 03:22 PM
thank you for this fine tutorial. the necklace looks really very nice. I love it!
best wishes to you
eleonor
Posted by: eleonor | May 12, 2009 at 05:49 AM
Beautiful bracelet, Thanks for showing how to do it.
I want to try it.
-krisha-
Posted by: philippines gift | May 12, 2009 at 05:56 AM
you are seriously crafty.
great blog! i'll be back for sure!
Posted by: melly~ | May 12, 2009 at 11:46 AM
They're adorable! I love the colors!
Posted by: Laura | May 12, 2009 at 02:47 PM
Wow! These are exquisite! What beautiful colors too!
I have a big bag of roving, I think I will be trying your tutorial tonight!
Posted by: gardenmama | May 18, 2009 at 05:43 PM
these are GORGEOUS and i feel like even i could make these! thank you for sharing!
Posted by: jek | May 21, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Yes. They really are gorgeous. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: heather jane | May 21, 2009 at 02:34 PM
How beautiful! Couldn't have guessed they were made by children! And I have always thought that they were difficult to make. Now I will try myself and then maybe with the children at school. Thank you!
Posted by: m | May 25, 2009 at 08:00 AM
Man, I wish I'd gone to your preschool.
Posted by: Eleanor (undeadgoat) | May 25, 2009 at 10:27 PM
These are so beautiful! I'm inspired again! Maybe I'll try to make felt beads with my sewing campers this summer - it looks like such fun. Thanks!
Posted by: Amie Plumley | May 26, 2009 at 11:16 AM
These are great and it looks like the kids had fun making them!
Posted by: Di | May 31, 2009 at 12:15 PM
just tried this project w/ my 3yrold son, i've never felted and thought it would be a good intro for us both.
he wasn't as into it as i'd hoped, and made me do most of the rolling. after 5 or 6 my palms got all pink and irritated, i guess from the roughness of the wool? they still feel all itchy and sore.
hopefully the beading will go better
Posted by: elzza | June 01, 2009 at 05:28 PM
beautiful!
Posted by: annieb | June 10, 2009 at 05:08 PM
super cute!
Posted by: Lydia | June 16, 2009 at 03:12 PM
ingenious and what WONDERFUL gifts for Mother!
Posted by: val | June 17, 2009 at 09:43 AM
I made these last month and have been meaning to stop back in and say that they were super easy and turned out better than I could have imagined. True the roving part can be pricy I bought 4 colors from American Felt and Craft and that made more beads than I could use, so in the long run the roving was cheaper than beads would have been.
Posted by: Kaylee | June 17, 2009 at 08:40 PM
These are just incredible and beautiful. I love them. My kids love felting, but balls can be hard to get right. We're going to do these today!
Posted by: Christine - Origami Mommy | June 21, 2009 at 03:25 PM
I just ordered some felting wool and was planning on making round beads, but this is just taking it to another level~
We will be trying these and thank you for the beautiful tutorial!
Posted by: Susannah @ art nest | August 04, 2009 at 12:01 PM
I do agree!!! These are very beautiful creations. Moms will really be proud of these kids. Happy mothers day!!!
Posted by: cash advance now | August 20, 2009 at 06:22 AM
super duper cutie
Posted by: Gift Supplies | November 02, 2009 at 09:57 PM