Needle-Felting Fun for Kids - Nature Scenes on Pieces of Felt

We've been very busy needle-felting lately. With my little shop opened now, I've had some lovely sales and have met some wonderful mamas. So the girls have been seeing a lot of needles flying during the day and want so badly to partake.

Since they are still quite young, I want to focus my total attention on them when they needle-felt objects, but I've found that I can continue to needle-felt alongside of them if they are needle-felting scenes on pieces of felt, as their fingers are in much less jeopardy of being jabbed. They have been poked before and the first time after Charley hurt herself, she abandoned needle-felting for several months before slowly warming up to it again when she was ready. I kind of think it's that mentality that after you poke yourself a few times, you are more cautious and learn just where to place your fingers/hands. I certainly would only recommend needle felting if the children ask to do it and are *ready* to do it. Moms know their children best.

We've been trying a few different things. Lately, they've just chosen to needle felt onto a sheet of felt. This is Elena's cat that she made yesterday...


And here is Charley, inspired to needle-felt a scene of the lovely Spring Marigold Maiden from my shop that I was working on last night.

We've also tried needle-felting on large felt/poly/plastic stiff sheets that we found at Michaels (not sure what they are made of, but they are very stiff and found in the section with the felt sheets). Below you can see the size of the board/sheet in sand color. They measure approximately 17.5" x 12" and are a bit stiff. I used this stiff board (in white) to make the girls b-day countdown calendar (where I placed the trees and Rainbow Bridge). I then stitched it onto a large sheet of felt. If you choose to purchase one of the stiff felt sheets/boards, try to pick one that doesn't seem too stiff. I've noticed a difference between a few brands and it can make it hard to poke the needle through it if it's too stiff, though over time, with the jabbing, it will soften. The plain piece of soft felt is much easier.

Charley felted a fairy with a heart...

And here is her bunny, flower with stem/petal, small lake and a tiny gnome (inspired by her mini-gnome for her b-day)...

And the nice thing about this kind of felting, is that the kids can felt away and then pull off the wool and reuse it for another scene (very eco-friendly and keeps the costs down).

The girls will eventually finish their scenes and then we are planning on making homemade twig frames to frame them in the house. Very fun and oh so special!